Young Vietnamese pianist Hoang Pham Tra Mi has recently finished in the Top 7 finalists of the 8th Moscow International Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, which concluded last week.

The 15-year-old female student from the Hanoi-based Vietnam National Academy of Music received an Honorary Diploma and US$1,000 in cash.

First held in 1992, the Moscow International Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, which is organized every four years, has become one of the world’s biggest piano contests for young artists, as well as one of the most difficult competitions on Chopin. At the competition, which is open to young musicians of all nations born after the 21st of September 1995, contestants are required to play repertoires consisting of music by F. Chopin exclusively.

Tra Mi has previously won awards at other piano competitions including the first prize at the C category of the 1st International Chopin Piano Competition in Singapore in 2010. In 2001, Mi won the second prizes at Group II of the 3rd International Rosario Marciano Piano Competition in Vienna, as well as the first prize at the Nuits Pianistiques contest in France.