CIMC Marks Its 74th Monthly Competition While Expanding Educational Opportunities for Musicians
CHARLESTON, SC, UNITED STATES, August 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Charleston International Music Competition (CIMC) has announced the finalists of its 2026 19th Century Music Competition, the organization's 74th monthly international music competition since its founding in 2020.
Dedicated to music shaped by one of history's most influential periods of artistic development, the competition invited musicians to explore repertoire associated with the 19th century and demonstrate their individual approaches to interpretation, expression, technique, and musical storytelling.
The era transformed musical performance and produced works that remain central to music education and concert repertoire today. Composers expanded the expressive possibilities of established instruments, developed new musical forms and techniques, and created repertoire that continues to challenge and inspire generations of musicians.
Through the 2026 19th Century Music Competition, CIMC celebrates both this musical heritage and the performers who continue bringing it to life.
2026 19th Century Music Competition Finalists
CELLO
Zion Anderson, Jason Bryce Buyag, Josephine Ko, Jason Li, Kyle Tang, Elijah Tshing, Ashley Xu, Juliet Zhang
CLARINET
Iris Kaplan
HARP
Noëlle Yoo
PIANO
Hyeonseo Ah, Ela Arisoylu, Adharva Balaji, Eric Chen, Charlize Chien, Allison Choi, Yuanyuan Ding, Alina Duan, Miranda Eng, Simon Fass, Ava Goldenberg, Giselle Goldenberg, Astghik Grigoryan, Caleb Jang, Evan Kaplan, Iris Kaplan, Jude Kazimi, JeeHwan Kim, Rishi Kunaparaju, Defne Kupeli, Morgan Lee, Emma Li, Tayden Li, Tyler Liu, Valery Lou, Rishi Makkapaty, Ani Mkrtchyan, Claire Nah, Christopher Neal, Madelyn Ngo, Marcus Nishijima, Kayla Ostrow, Misha Pandya, Sofia Pavlovic, Alexander Pourloukakis, Dillon Powell, Neil Sarlashkar, Lidia Sasim, Celine Sawan, Dhriti Shah, Hrudya Shah, Miki Shen, William Silva, Olivia Sokolov, Deeksha Sundararaman, Anishka Trichy, Nishka Viswanathan, Luke Wan, Charlotte Win, Beverlyn Mettakhemadevi Winata, Andrea Wong, Marvin Wu, Eric Yan, Claire Ye, Lucas Zhang, Yi Zhang, Tani Zhao, Dakuan Zheng, Jonathan Zhou, Naomi Zhu, Carson Zimmermann
VIOLA
Evan Kaplan, Hyunjung Song
VIOLIN
Ivan Chan, Leon Crisan, Nataliia Danyliak, Kaitlyn Fan, Emma Koh, Alice Li, Ethan Li, Eisei Liu, Kriti Polu, Olivia Tai
VOCAL
Sara Khadilkar, Edith Lin
ENSEMBLES
Lauren Muller, Alexis Smith, Vedant Jayashankara, Hyunjung Song, Euijin Park, Clara Lee
The finalists represent a diverse community of musicians participating across different instruments, ages, countries, and stages of musical development.
Their performances reflect the many ways musicians encounter 19th-century repertoire today: as students discovering foundational works with their teachers, advanced performers refining interpretation and technique, and lifelong musicians continuing to explore repertoire that has endured across generations.
Official results for the 2026 19th Century Music Competition will be announced on August 10, 2026.
From Musical Performance to Musical Progress: Introducing Muselo
As CIMC celebrates its 74th monthly competition, the organization is also expanding the resources available to musicians beyond individual competition performances.
CIMC is introducing Muselo, a new music education platform designed to help musicians and their private teachers document the work, improvement, and accomplishments that take place throughout the learning process.
Muselo allows musicians to track practice sessions, receive feedback on focused musical excerpts while working toward mastery, build a long-term musical transcript, and connect with their private teachers.
The idea reflects a simple reality of music education: a finished performance represents only one moment in a much longer process.
Behind a polished piece are lessons, repeated practice, difficult passages, corrections, breakthroughs, and gradual improvement. Muselo gives musicians a place to record that development over time while giving teachers another way to remain connected to their students' progress between lessons.
The platform is now available to students and teachers at:
muselo.app
Creating Opportunities at Every Stage of a Musician's Journey
The launch of Muselo represents a natural expansion of CIMC's broader commitment to musical participation and development.
Since 2020, the Charleston International Music Competition has provided musicians with recurring opportunities to set performance goals, prepare repertoire, share their artistry, and receive international recognition. More than 8,000 musicians representing over 100 countries have been recognized through CIMC competitions.
Those musicians encompass a wide spectrum of the musical community, including developing students, dedicated amateurs, adult performers, teachers, emerging artists, and advanced musicians pursuing ambitious artistic goals.
CIMC's philosophy is that meaningful musical opportunities should not be limited to a small number of performers following a single professional path. Musicians pursue music for many reasons, and achievement can take many forms: mastering a challenging work, preparing a successful performance, developing greater confidence, reaching a new technical level, or continuing a lifelong relationship with music.
Through its international competitions and new educational resources, CIMC seeks to support more of that journey.
Six Years of Monthly International Music Competitions
The 2026 19th Century Music Competition marks the 74th monthly event organized by the Charleston International Music Competition.
CIMC's year-round calendar gives musicians recurring opportunities to work toward new goals through competitions built around different seasons, repertoire periods, instruments, and artistic themes.
The 19th Century Music Competition places particular emphasis on repertoire from a period in which individuality and personal expression became increasingly important elements of musical performance.
For today's musicians, studying this repertoire offers more than an opportunity to revisit musical history. It develops interpretive judgment, technical control, stylistic awareness, and the ability to communicate an individual artistic perspective through works that have challenged performers for generations.
Explore the CIMC Community
The Charleston International Music Competition publishes performances by selected finalists through its official YouTube channel, allowing musicians, families, teachers, and audiences to discover performers from around the world.
Watch CIMC performances:
https://youtube.com/@charlestoncompetition
Past participants, parents, and teachers have also shared their experiences with the competition through written and video testimonials.
Read participant testimonials:
https://charlestoncompetition.com/testimonials/
Watch video testimonials:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgdkUhRgoAHrQmKn1dwO4qBX_vGCT7qkA
2026 19th Century Music Competition Results
Official results will be published on August 10, 2026, on the Charleston International Music Competition website:
https://charlestoncompetition.com/results
Upcoming 2026 Music Competitions
CIMC's 2026 international competition season continues with:
Application Deadline: August 15, 2026
Application Deadline: September 15, 2026
2026 Romantic Music Competition
Application Deadline: October 15, 2026
Eligibility information, musical categories, repertoire requirements, and application details are available at:
https://charlestoncompetition.com
About Charleston International Music Competition
Founded in 2020, the Charleston International Music Competition (CIMC) provides international performance, recognition, and educational opportunities for musicians across ages, instruments, backgrounds, and levels of experience. Through 74 monthly competitions, CIMC has recognized more than 8,000 musicians representing over 100 countries.
In 2026, CIMC expanded its commitment to music education with the launch of Muselo, a platform where musicians can track practice, work toward mastery, document their musical development, build long-term transcripts, and connect with private teachers.
Learn more:
https://charlestoncompetition.com
Charleston Competition
Charleston Music LLC
contact@charlestoncompetition.com
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