Meet the Rising Star LIVE Competition Judges
PIANO DIVISION - 2024
MARIA LYAPKOVA
An exceptionally versatile pianist, keyboardist, educator, and collaborative pianist, Maria Lyapkova serves as Director of Collaborative Piano at DePauw University. She earned a Master’s of Music degree in Piano and Historical Performance from Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas-Austin,
Maria Lyapkova has graced international stages in the USA, Europe, and Russia. Her wide-ranging repertoire encompasses five centuries of music, from baroque to contemporary. Maria has collaborated with leading musicians across the globe performing with principals from major orchestras such as the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and Bolshoi Theatre, and vocalists from Minnesota and Indianapolis Opera.
An inspirational pedagogue, Maria’s guest appearances include residencies and masterclasses at Northern Kentucky University, University of Central Florida, and the University of Tampa. As a vocal coach and collaborative pianist for the Indianapolis Opera, she imbues rising voices with world-class finesse.
JOOYOUNG KIM
Jooyoung Kim serves on the piano faculty at Anderson University and Indiana University Kokomo. Prior to joining the faculty at AU and IUK, she held faculty positions at Indiana Wesleyan University, Indiana University East, and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Jooyoung Kim holds degrees from Yonsei University, Universität der Künste Berlin, and Ball State University.
Pianist Jooyoung Kim, a native of South Korea, has taken top prizes in numerous national and international competitions. She has been critically acclaimed on international stages for her dazzling technique, superb musicianship, and exquisite artistry. Fanfare Magazine and American Record Guide have hailed her as “richness of talent,” “charm, romance, and elegance,” and “exuberant and bold playing.” Since making her debut at the age of twelve as a soloist with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, Kim has presented numerous solo and chamber recitals in Korea, Japan, Germany, Spain, England, France, Portugal, Italy, Russia, and the United States.
Kim has recently released her solo CD on MSR Classics that is continuing to receive rave reviews. Her CD is available on MSR Classics, Amazon, Spotify, and iTunes.
VOICE & THEATER ARTS DIVISION - 2024
DON FARRELL
Don Farrell is the President and CEO of Crossroads Entertainment, LLC – a professional production and performing company, and co-founder of Actors Theatre of Indiana, the resident professional theatre company at the Center for the Performing Arts, and proud Board member of the Carmel International Arts Festival and Roundabout Fitness.
A member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1992, Don is a veteran of the concert/theatrical stage continually working as a professional singer, dancer, actor, director, choreographer, and producer with credits including Off-Broadway, International Tour, National Tour, Las Vegas, Regional, Symphony concerts and educational productions.
A graduate from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM, BFA-Music Theatre), he has served as a member of the drama faculty for NYC’s premier musical theatre training conservatory Collaborative Arts Project 21, has taught drama workshops and master classes for theatre companies and universities.
With his company Crossroads Entertainment, he has co-created hit cabaret shows ALL THE WAY – A Frank Sinatra Tribute, ONE VOICE: The Music of Manilow, BECAUSE OF YOU: A Tribute to Tony Bennett, SWEET CAROLINE: The life and music of Neil Diamond, A SINATRA CHRISTMAS which have been playing monthly to sold-out performances at Feinstein’s at Hotel Carmichael in Carmel, IN.
VICKI NEUMANN
Vicki Neumann, professional vocal coach and owner and founder of V2 Vocals.com. An Indianapolis native, Vicki studied voice at the Indiana University School of Music and then continued her studies in Los Angeles under the direction of world-renowned vocal coach Seth Riggs, whose students include the likes of Ray Charles, Josh Groban, Michael Jackson, Bette Midler, and Madonna.
Vicki has since established herself as a well-respected vocal coach, instructor, and mentor to professionals on Broadway, Las Vegas and various cruise lines, as well as numerous artists headlining locally in major Indianapolis concert venues and theaters including, but not limited to, Ruoff Music Center, Old National Center, Beef and Boards Dinner Theater.
Aside from being a professional vocal coach, instructor, and mentor, Vicki has been a judge for numerous regional and national vocal competitions, and was a judge for the preliminary auditions of ABC’s Karaoke Battle USA.
Working with everyone from aspiring songwriters to national recording artists, Vicki’s classical training allows her to not only coach her clients, but also instruct them how to perform with proper technique, giving them the confidence they need to deliver show stopping performances, whether they’re performing at a local talent show or playing live to sold out crowds all over the world.
PIANO DIVISION
KATE BOYD
Kate Boyd serves as Professor of Piano at Butler University. She holds degrees from Stony Brook University, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Hannover (Germany) Academy of Music.
Kate Boyd has performed solo recitals at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Schubert’s birth house in Vienna, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Musikhalle Hamburg, in addition to many other venues. Concerts and conferences have taken her to Germany, New Zealand, England, Canada, Malaysia, Greece, USA. She was a founding member of the Oracle Trio, a New York-based piano trio that performed throughout the US for ten years.
Dr. Boyd is also a well-regarded educator who received several teaching awards. In 2021 she created an educational YouTube channel, the “ThePianoProf”, which has 1500+ subscribers. In the summers, she taught for 11 years at the internationally-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in northern Michigan.
Boyd is also active as a conference clinician. She has presented lectures and workshops at national and international conferences, including the upcoming 2023 MTNA National Conference in Reno; the International John Cage Conference in Malaysia; the European Piano Teachers Association Conference in Germany; the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference; and various state conferences.
RACHEL JACKSON
Pianist Rachel Jackson is the Director of Piano Studies at Franklin College, where she teaches classes on applied piano, Keyboard Literature, and Piano Pedagogy. She holds a Master of Music degree in performance from Butler University and a Bachelor of Music degree, graduating with the highest honors and 9 music scholarships and awards, from Wright State University.
Rachel has performed as soloist and collaborative pianist in numerous venues in the USA and abroad, including the solo masterclasses for notable pianists Jon Nakamatsu and Sean Chen. In 2018, she was accepted as a collaborative pianist in the Vienna Summer Music Festival, where she studied with Hafez Babashahi of the Wagner Conservatory, Austria. In the summer of 2017, she attended the National Music Festival on full scholarship as a collaborative piano apprentice under Professor Michael Gurt. Troika, the chamber ensemble in which she was a pianist received an alternate place in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition state division. Rachel’s Sorelle Piano Trio was invited to perform a masterclass with Maestro Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
She maintains an in-home studio of more than 25 private students. Her students have won local and international competitions and been accepted into collegiate-level music programs on scholarship. Rachel is also a church music director at Trinity Church in Brownsburg, Indiana.
REBECCA SORLEY
Dr. Rebecca Sorley holds the position of Professor of Music at the University of Indianapolis where she is Director of Student Support and Coordinator of the Music Business Concentration. She teaches piano to all levels from Pre-College through Piano Majors.
Dr. Sorley holds degrees in piano from Butler, Indiana and Ball State Universities and an MBA from the University of Indianapolis. Recent performances include participation in the National Association of Music Merchants “Roomful of Pianos” in Anaheim, California, lecture-recital entitled “Musical Immigrants” for the College Music Society International Conference in Sydney, Australia and “Women Make Music” with daughter, Allegra, for the Mu Phi Epsilon International Convention in Denver, Colorado. In November, 2019, Rebecca taught as a masterclass clinician for the National Collegiate Honors Conference in New Orleans.
Sorley serves on the International Board for Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity as 4th-International Vice-President, Music Advisor. She has worked as an orchestral keyboardist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Evansville Philharmonic.
TONY WEINSTEIN
Tony Weinstein, Full-Time Adjunct, Part-time Assistant Professor at DePauw University School of Music, holds B.M. (Piano Performance) and B.A. (Pure Mathematics, with Honors) degrees from Oberlin College and M.M., P.D., and Doctor of Music (with distinction) degrees from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
He teaches Advanced Keyboard Skills, Piano Literature, and Piano Pedagogy, and secondary piano, in addition to serving on the accompanying staff. He is Co-director for Artistic Affairs at the Jacobs School of Music Summer Piano Academy, where he has been on the faculty for over ten years, and chairs District C of the Indiana Music Teachers Association.
Previously, Tony taught at Vincennes University and had been Accompanying Coordinator as well as an Associate Instructor of Piano and Music Theory at the Jacobs School. He often performs with mezzo-soprano Yana Weinstein, as well as with baritone Andre Campelo. For several years, he has been involved in a project of performances, translations, and IPA transcriptions of the songs of Nikolai Medtner. He is also engaged in BrahmsFest – a multi-year exploration of the chamber and solo piano works of Johannes Brahms.
VOICE & THEATER ARTS DIVISION
LAURA STORM
Dr. Laura Storm is a member of the voice faculty at Butler University. She previously served as Professor of Voice at Henderson State University, AR, where she taught Studio Voice, Lyric Diction, Vocal Pedagogy and Methods. She holds degrees from Florida State University (DM), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM), and Austin Peay State University (BA).
Soprano Laura Storm is a devoted pedagogue and an active performer of stage, concert, and chamber repertoire. She is a former prize-winner in the Concurso Internacional de Canto Lírico in Trujillo, Peru, and has performed concerts in the U.S. and abroad with symphonies as well as in the opera and musical theater productions including the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Salerno, Italy. Dr. Storm is a founding member of the Storm Trio, an ensemble specializing in music for soprano, clarinet, and piano, which has performed throughout the U.S.
As a clinician Dr. Storm presented Master Classes across the USA and at Hebei Art Academy in Shijiazhuang and Guizhou University in Guiyang, China. As a student of yoga and the Alexander Technique, Dr. Storm loves integrating these disciplines into her teaching and guiding students toward a deeper understanding of their physical and expressive resources as singing artists.
KATHERINE NAGY
Katherine Nagy is an Indianapolis-based songwriter, musician, and performer. She studied piano, flute, and classical voice from a very young age. As an adult, she started playing rhythm guitar. Her love for music has brought together many talented musicians to arrange, record and perform music together.
Her songs have been heard on Amazon Prime’s “Forever Summer Hamptons”, Netflix’s “Love is Blind” and Bravo TV’s “Love Without Borders”. She won the Central Indiana Folk Writing Contest both in 2021 and 2020. Her song “Lay With Me” was voted top 20 songs of 2019 on the award-winning “Irish & Celtic Music Podcast”.
She performs regularly around Indianapolis with her band at The Jazz Kitchen, The Studio Theatre, and regional music festivals. She was the opening act for both national touring artist Gabe Dixon and The Willy Porter Band. She has released a full-length album “Heart songs” and multiple EPs and singles. Her music is available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and more.
She is originally from Ireland, however, now lives in Indianapolis, IN with her husband Ryan, her children Kaitlyn, Alex, and Julianna, and the family dog Bridget.
KIRSTEN GUNLOGSON
Kirsten Gunlogson is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Butler University. She holds BM and MM degrees as well as a Performer’s Certificate from IU Jacobs School of Music.
Grammy nominated Mezzo-Soprano Kirsten Gunlogson’s voice has been described as “rich”, “creamy” and “beautifully dramatic”. She has performed all over the World with National and International Symphony Orchestras and Opera Theaters.
Recent performances include a solo concert with the OMSK Philharmonic in OMSK, Russia, the roles of Mother, Chinese Tea Cup and Dragonfly in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, the role of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, the role of Ma Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath. Other performance highlights include Maddalena in Rigoletto, the title role of Bizet’s Carmen, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, a gala celebration concert with Nashville Opera, and Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Indianapolis Opera. Ms. Gunlogson appeared with Nashville Symphony as The Chinese Cup/A Herdsman/The White Cat on their GRAMMY-nominated CD of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Other recordings include a performance of The Mother in Amahl and The Night Visitors with The Nashville Symphony, also released by the Naxos label.
YANA WEINSTEIN
Ukrainian-born mezzo soprano Yana Weinstein grew up in a family of musicians and began studying voice and piano at the age of five. She was a main soloist of the award-winning Shkolniye Gody children’s choir, with which she toured all over Europe and the former USSR and won international choral competitions in Bulgaria and Spain. Shortly following her graduation with her first degrees in voice and choral conducting, her family immigrated to the United States, where she has been living for over twenty years.
Ms. Weinstein earned a B.M. degree magna cum laude in Vocal Performance from Northern Kentucky University, and a M.M. degree from the Ohio State. She is pursuing her doctorate at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. While at OSU and IU, she appeared as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Gherardino in Gianni Schicchi, Suora Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, and gave a performance of Lee Hoiby’s mono-opera Bon Appetit! At Indiana State University, Ms. Weinstein teaches piano, voice, music theory and conducts the Women’s Choir. She has given a number of programs with special emphasis on Russian repertoire. Her research topics include music and poetic text, vocal pedagogy for the pre-teens, vocal pedagogy and music theory, and the songs of Nikolai Medtner.