Sophie Nguyen, 16, and Naomi Kobayashi, 17, were named First Prize Winner of the ‘Piano Duet’ Category at the Music Teachers National Association’s (MTNA) National Performance Competitions, becoming the first young pianists from Hawaii to win in this category in the 57-year history of the MTNA.
Nguyen, a sophomore, and Kobayashi, a junior, are students at ‘Iolani School and study with veteran Honolulu piano teacher Joanna Zane-Fan. Both students have been playing the piano for eleven years, and began their music journey as a piano duet in 2019.
In this unique form of music, also known as “four hands,” they play two separate parts while sitting side-by-side and sharing one piano. In the beginning, “we were just elbowing each other a lot,” said Kobayashi. But after months of meticulous preparation, the duet won the state competition hosted by the Hawaii Music Teachers Association (HMTA) in November 2019; then went on to win the Southwest Division Competition in January 2020.
The elite National Final Round was scheduled to take place during MTNA’s March 2020 National Convention in Chicago. However, due to the burgeoning COVID-19 crisis, both the convention and the competition moved online. The national judges were unanimous in their selection of the Hawaii duet as first place winners.
The duet performed a selection of four pieces: Beethoven Sonata in D Major, Op. 6; Rachmaninov Six Morceaux; Samuel Barber Souvenirs, Ballet suite Op. 28, “Hesitation Tango”; and Aram Khachaturian “Sabre Dance.” Primo player Nguyen said, “Winning this competition is a dream come true. Naomi and I worked hard, and we are so proud to represent Hawaii in bringing home this amazing honor.”
The purpose of the MTNA performance competitions is to provide educational experiences for students and teachers and to recognize exceptionally talented young artists in their pursuit of music excellence.