The Adjudicators
Peter Miyamoto
Pianist Peter Miyamoto enjoys a brilliant international career, performing in recital and as soloist in Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, China, and Japan, and in major US cities such as Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. In 1990, Miyamoto was named the first Gilmore Young Artist. He won numerous other competitions, including the American Pianist Association National Fellowship Competition, the D’Angelo Competition, the San Francisco Symphony Competition and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Competition, and was a top-prize winner in the National Chopin Piano Competition.
Peter Miyamoto holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale University School of Music, Michigan State University, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. His teachers included Maria Curcio-Diamand, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Marek Jablonski, Aube Tzerko, and Ralph Votapek, as well as Szymon Goldberg and Felix Galimir for chamber music. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Chautauqua Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony, and Springfield Symphony, working with such conductors as Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, David Lockington, Raymond Harvey, Lawrence Leighton-Smith, William Henry Curry, Kyle Pickett and Kirk Trevor. A dedicated chamber musician, he has collaborated with such musician as Charles Castleman, Victor Danchenko, Joel Krosnick, Lara St. John, Anthony McGill, Amit Peled, David Shifrin, Allan Vogel, singer Lucy Shelton, and members of the Juilliard, Borromeo and Pacific String Quartets. He is the Executive Director of the Plowman Chamber Music Competition.
Currently Middlebush Chair of Piano at the University of Missouri, where he was also named 2021 Professor of the Year, Peter Miyamoto formerly taught at Michigan State University, and the California Institute of the Arts. He has presented lectures and master classes through the Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Festival and the Amadeus Piano Festival, at numerous music institutions including the Colburn School, Interlochen Academy of the Arts, Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Michigan among many others, as well as internationally in Canada, China, Greece, Japan and Serbia. From 2003-2015 he served as head of the piano faculty at the New York Summer Music Festival and has served on the piano faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music’s Young Artist Summer Program and the Curtis Mentor Network Program in Philadelphia.
Miyamoto’s six solo CDs, available on the Blue-Griffin label, have received excellent reviews in periodicals such as Gramophone, International Record Review, Fanfare, and American Record Guide and were recognized by the American Prize. He has also recorded a CD with violinist Julie Rosenfeld of world-premieres of six works for violin and piano on the Albany label, produced by GRAMMY Award winner Judith Sherman.
Prof. Alla Voskoboynikova
Alla Voskoboynikova is an acclaimed pianist, collaborator, and educator based in St. Louis, Missouri. She performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, regularly appearing with members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and coaching for Union Avenue Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Alla is an active member of the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, where she frequently appears as a soloist, chamber musician, and coach. Since 2004, she has served as Director of Keyboard Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where she was named Teaching Professor of Piano in 2014.
At the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Alla directs the annual Young Artist Competition, a vibrant showcase of emerging talent from both UMSL and high schools across the Midwest. This program offers gifted young musicians a rare and inspiring opportunity to perform as soloists with the UMSL Symphony Orchestra. Under Alla’s leadership, the competition has become a celebrated platform for artistic growth, community engagement, and musical excellence.
Originally from Ukraine, Alla began her career as a pianist and vocal coach at the Kiev Opera and Ballet Theater. She holds degrees in Piano Performance from the Music College in Voronezh and the Gnessins Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, where she studied under Oleg Milman and Lina Bulatova—students of Elena Gnessina and Genrikh Neigauz.
Her collaborations span Grammy Award-winning soprano Christine Brewer, STLSO concertmaster David Halen, and the Arianna String Quartet, among many others. Notable performances include concertos by Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Mozart, and Shostakovich with orchestras in Russia and the U.S., as well as a Carnegie Hall recital with flutist Brenda Hagni.
As an educator with over 30 years of teaching experience in both Russia and the United States, Alla brings a deeply personal and holistic approach to her pedagogy. Her teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that students benefit profoundly from studying with a professor who is also an active performer. Her daily engagement with the learning process—through rehearsals, collaborations, and performances—keeps her closely connected to the student experience and fuels her passion for teaching. Alla is committed to helping her students grow not only as pianists and musicians, but as thinkers and individuals. She emphasizes disciplined practice, intellectual curiosity, and the joy of lifelong learning. Her goal is to cultivate a deep appreciation for art in its broadest sense, encouraging students to explore connections between music, literature, painting, and dance. She inspires her students to become ambassadors of music, art, and culture.
Her studio is diverse and inclusive, welcoming students from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. Alla tailors her approach to each individual, drawing from a rich compilation of methods and her own insights to create a personalized path for every student. She sets high expectations while offering compassionate guidance, helping students transform challenges into strengths.
Alla was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2023 and received their Top Teacher Award in 2016. Her students regularly perform at major St. Louis venues and participate in regional and national competitions. She frequently organizes thematic chamber music series and cultural exchange programs.
In 2012, Alla organized a concert tour in Russia, which included a series of piano recitals in St. Louis’ sister city of Samara. As part of a cultural exchange between the two cities, her students—John Nuckols, Tom Winkler, Daniel Dickson, and Daniel Kuehler—performed at the Samara Philharmonic Hall and the Samara Social Humanitarian Academy.
Alla is a frequent adjudicator and clinician for local teachers’ organizations and music institutions.
Alla resides in St. Louis with her husband, Ilya Litvin, a Ukrainian-born trumpet player and teacher.
Garik Pedersen
Garik Pedersen, a Steinway Artist, is enjoying a rewarding “post-academic” career as a teacher, performer, and researcher in St. Louis, Missouri. His new recording of solo and chamber works for piano by British composer Sasha Johnson Manning will be released in 2025. He was featured in a May, 2024 television documentary on The Victory Vertical Project, his touring lecture-performance that tells the musical story of small pianos built for the military during World War II (Fox Nation, Secret History of WWII, season 3).
His performance career has taken him throughout the US and to Europe, Asia, Canada, Central America, and the Philippines. He has presented programs for the State Department, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and professional music teacher associations in the US, Europe, Canada, and Taiwan. His recordings can be found on the Albany, Regent, and Hornblower labels and he has performed on numerous public television and radio broadcasts.
Pedersen taught for over 30 years at Eastern Michigan University, which granted him emeritus status in 2021. At EMU his piano studio included prizewinners in national, international, regional and state competitions. Since moving to St. Louis, he has had a finalist (2023) and a winner (2024) in the St. Louis Teen Talent Competition at the Fox Theatre.
A scholarship student of Wesley True at the University of Central Missouri, which named him Distinguished Alumnus in Music, he was a DMA piano student of John Simms at the University of Iowa. Other major influences have been Gyorgy Sebok, Eugene Bossart, and Edwin E. Gordon.
Garik is a past president of Michigan Music Teachers Association, which honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 2016. He received the Michigan Touchstone Award in 2017 in recognition of his “commitment to Michigan’s artistic excellence and his advocacy for the arts.”
For more information about The Victory Vertical Project: victoryvertical.com.
Dr. Yeon-Kyung Kim
South Korean pianist Dr. Yeon-Kyung Kim is a versatile musician whose work spans traditional and contemporary classical repertoires. She has performed throughout the United States and South Korea, with a particular interest in collaborating with living composers and championing music outside the canon. An active chamber musician, Dr. Kim has worked with a wide range of instrumentalists and vocalists, and she recorded an album of horn and piano music with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians Thomas and Tricia Jostlein. She has appeared in recitals at Western Illinois University, DePauw University, and the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign.
As an advocate for Korean art song, Dr. Kim has coached and presented this repertoire, including performances at College Music Society (CMS) conferences with soprano Dr. Janani Sridhar. Most recently, she premiered a number of new works as a Resident Piano Fellow at the Cortona Sessions for New Music. In the coming year, she will present a solo recital pairing studio favorites with contemporary works, highlighting both canonical and modern voices. Committed to education, Dr. Kim has taught group piano classes and applied lessons in a variety of settings to students of diverse backgrounds and levels. She has served as faculty and adjudicator for numerous summer programs and Music Teachers Association competitions. Her pedagogical research has been presented at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, Music Teachers National Association conferences, and CMS regional and national meetings. She has served as an instructor of secondary piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and has recently accepted a full-time position at Washington University in St. Louis as Teacher of Applied Music and Collaborative Pianist.
Dedicated to supporting young musicians, Dr. Kim founded Glow Music in Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization that commissions emerging composers and partners with MYCincinnati on community outreach initiatives. https://glowmusic.live
Dr. Kim completed her DMA in Piano Performance at CCM, where she studied with James Tocco. Her other influential teachers include Aviram Reichert, Christopher Harding, and Emile Naoumoff. https://yeonkyungkim.com