Mika Matsuyama - 1st Place
Mika Matsuyama (16), student of Jeffrey Panko, and coached Sean Bennett, was awarded 1st Place in the Senior Division of the 2026 NSMTA Karen Tobias Piano Competition.
Mika Matsuyama, is a junior at Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago and studies piano with Jeffrey Panko at the New Music School. She has also worked with Mary Sauer and participated in masterclasses with Alan Chow, Stephen Osborne, and Spencer Myer.
Last summer, Mika attended several prestigious programs, including the Interlochen Piano Intensive, Indiana University Piano Academy, Oberlin Piano Festival, and the Chicago Chamber Music Festival, where she performed in masterclasses with Norman Krieger, Matthew Gianforte, and Carl Cranmer. She also participated in a masterclass with Stephen Osborne at the Grant Park Music Festival.
Mika has received numerous honors in competition. Most recently, she took 1st place in the Senior Division of the 2026 NSMTA Karen Tobias Piano Competition. She earned Honorable Mention with Distinction at the DePaul National Concerto Competition, performing the first movement of Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2, and was a finalist in the Sinfonietta Bel Canto Concerto Competition. Her concerto repertoire also includes the first movements of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 4. She won the Gold Medal at the CAMTA Sonata-Sonatina Festival and Second Place at the American Protégé International Competition, through which she will perform Ravel’s Jeux d’eau at Carnegie Hall this May. She was also a finalist in the Musicians Club of Women Competition. Her solo repertoire spans works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Ravel, and Gershwin, and she has performed chamber music by Mozart, Grieg, and Piazzolla.
In addition to piano, Mika is an accomplished dancer. She previously trained in the Pre-Professional Program at the Joffrey Academy and now studies at All About Dance. She is also a member of her high school’s varsity dance team, which earned first place at the UDA Regionals. Dance has contributed to her strong sense of rhythm and stage presence, enhancing her musical performances. Academically, Mika has a strong interest in mathematics and the sciences and plans to pursue bioengineering in college.
