Joyce Ye is a seventh-grade student at Explorer Middle School. She has been a student of Dr. Yelena Balabanova at the International Conservatory Studio since 2016. As of then, she has earned multiple accolades at events such as the Chopin Northwest Festival, WPTA Singapore International Piano Competition, SCMTA Sonatina Sonata Festival, International French Music Piano Competition, and the Simon Fiset Competition. She was awarded First Prize at the Charleston International Contemporary Music Competition, the Willard Schultz First Place Prize, and the Best of the Festival in Time Era at the EMTA Jazz, Rag, and Blues Festival. Joyce has also represented SCMTA as a performer at the Washington State Music Teachers Association State Conference. In 2023, Joyce was one of the winners of the SCMTA Concerto Competition and performed with the Mukilteo Community Orchestra. She also had the honor of performing with the Pacifica Chamber Orchestra in 2024. Most recently, she won the Grand Prix in the Chopin Concerto Competition and will be performing with the Bellevue Symphony in October. Over the past summer Joyce also attended Young Artist Piano Seminar at Cleveland Institute of Music and Seattle Piano Institute at University of Washington.
Beyond her musical achievements, Joyce currently serves as the Membership Chair for the International Beethoven Society of Young Musicians. She has also contributed to fundraising concerts supporting human rights and war victims in Ukraine. In her free time, Joyce enjoys reading and playing sports like tennis and volleyball.
2026 CHOPIN NW COMPETITION REGISTRATION BEGINS NOVEMBER 1, 2025.
PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES CAREFULLY. Some rules have changed from 2025.
The Northwest Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization will continue the tradition of encouraging talented young American pianists to study and perform classical music, especially highlighting the music of Chopin. We will primarily focus on the Seattle competition and furthering young local talent. The NW Chopin Foundation holds a yearly competition featuring the finest youth talent in Washington state. Each succeeding year, the Festival has grown to becoming one of the region's largest and well-known piano competitions. The very first meeting of The Northwest Chapter of the Chopin Foundation was held September 20, 2001 at the Women's University Club in Seattle, Washington. President Dr. Steven Lagerberg opened a meeting with eight other Chopin enthusiasts in attendance. Steven presented his vision for the Chopin Foundation which was, very simply, to showcase Chopin and his beautiful music.
CHOPIN FOUNDATION OF THE UNITED STATES, NORTHWEST COUNCIL
Dr. Hanna Cyba, President
Dr. Adam Aleksander, Immediate Past President
Dr. Yelena Balabanova, Vice-President
Dr. Steven Lagerberg, Founder
Judy Baker, Founder, Artistic Co-Director, Board Member
Cathy Carpenter, Secretary, Board Member
Dr. Mary Chandler, Treasurer, Co-Artistic Director
Allan Park, Past President, Board Member, Registrar
Yunbo Cassady, Board Member
Conney Vernall, Board Member
Dr. Nino Merabishvili, Board Member
Dr. Vladimir Balabanov, Board Member
Risa Jun, Board Member
Christopher Moorhead, Webmaster
Alison Bell, Past President
Helen Belvin, Honorary Past President
The Origins of Chopin’s Melancholy
In the vibrant tapestry of musical history few figures have left such an indelible impression as the renowned composer and pianist, Frédéric Chopin. Employing a remarkable amalgamation of his Polish heritage combined with an artistically creative brilliance, it appears that he fashioned many of his compositions out of intricately entwined memories from his remarkable childhood. Like a painter shaping an assortment of colorful images from a broad palette, Chopin used his piano to skillfully transform his recollections into often-melancholic melodies that continue to captivate audiences to this day. Although just how he accomplished that remains largely shrouded by the enigma of musical genius, are there clues from his life that can shed light on the sources of his inspiration?
Some of those indicators might be traced to his letters to his friends. For example, “Oh, how miserable it is to have no one to share sorrows and joys, and, when your heart is really heavy, to have no soul to whom you can pour out your woes.” Or this, “It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to…I tell the piano the things I used to tell you.” These are the laments of a lonely man, an individual deprived of close companionship. Chopin’s music was recurrently imbued with this sense of sadness, a longing for a bygone era along with the reflections of his own bittersweet memories. A sad and lonely person often will turn to nostalgia in an attempt to recreate the past, but was Chopin really this lonely and if so, why?
Of all of Chopin’s music his Nocturnes express the greatest manifestations of melancholy and nostalgia. He wrote his first one – Opus 72, No. 1 in E minor - shortly after the tragic death of his artistically talented sister, Emilia. She had died suddenly and unexpectedly in their family’s home from a massive pulmonary hemorrhage at the age of fifteen. Then only seventeen, Chopin was devastated; he and Emilia had always been very close. This first nocturne is sadness incarnate.
Chopin’s next foray into writing in this genre came in 1830, mere months following his reluctant departure from his beloved Poland for a highly uncertain future in Paris. Soon after arriving in the City of Light the twenty-year old Chopin became extremely homesick and lonely, terribly missing his friends and family, yet he swiftly rendered these feelings into what would become one of his most popular masterpieces, the Nocturne in E flat major, Opus 9, No. 2.
After his engagement to Maria Wodzinska was over-ruled by her aristocratic parents in 1836, Chopin once again entered a deep funk, wrapping a bundle of her letters together and calling them “My sorrow” (“Moja bieda.”) Out of this misery he created the Nocturnes of Opus 27, containing some of the most melancholically beautiful works he would ever compose. He had translated his feelings of loss and loneliness into marvelous works of art. He would never forget the terrible tragedy of the Russian occupation of Poland nor would he ever separate his personal sorrows from the fate of his beloved homeland. For the rest of his life Chopin would continue to steep his works in his deep emotional well of sorrow.
Chopin’s nostalgia, this melancholic sentimentality for the past, was prompted by his feelings of loneliness, disconnectedness or meaninglessness. Perhaps by revisiting his past he gained much-needed context, perspective and direction. Might it be possible to think that Chopin’s obsessive dwelling on the past, while directing him to create the musical masterpieces the world still enjoys, actually allowed him to find solace and come to terms with his sorrows by becoming psychologically cathartic, even therapeutic?
Steven Lagerberg November, 2024 Paris
ARCHIVES:
Sophisticated Restraint
The Scent of the Lily
The Piano Capitol of the World
Chopin in the Time of Cholera and COVID
Recognition
What Motivated Chopin
An Educated Guess
A Personal Challenge
Emotional Music
The Long Suffering
Of Hands and Heart
Why Do We Have a Chopin Festival
A Fateful Journey
Chopin's Pianos
What's Not to Like About Chopin's Music
To Compete or Not Compete
Dr. Steven Lagerberg is retired as a practicing physician from Kaiser Permanente and is the founder of the NW Council of the Chopin Foundation. Steven is the author of: Chopin's Heart: The Quest to Identify the Mysterious Illness of the World's Most Beloved Composer and Essays on Chopin.
Copyright 2020-21. Steven Lagerberg. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Support The Chopin Foundation of the United States
The Northwest Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization, will continue the tradition of encouraging talented young American pianists to study and perform classical music, especially highlighting the music of Chopin. Your donation is tax deductible and we would like to express our sincerest appreciation for your donation. Your generous donations, of any amount, are deeply appreciated and go a long way in supporting Chopin NW. Your generous donation to Chopin NW supports the arts, music, and local organizations that make a lasting impact on our community. We deeply appreciate your contribution. To receive a tax deduction notice and a heartfelt thank-you email, please contact Dr. Hanna Cyba, President of Chopin NW, at hannacyba@hotmail.com to notify us of your donation. Thank you
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Northwest Chopin Festival
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