Finalists: Brian Sun, Ivy Lin, Linda Ruan
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 2026 Robert & Ellen Silverman Piano Concerto Competition Semi-Finals!
On Friday, March 20, six UBC piano students performed concertos by Beethoven and Mozart to an enthusiastic audience in the Roy Barnett Recital Hall at UBC. The three finalists who emerge will perform in the Final Round with the UBC Chamber Orchestra, Saturday, September 26 at the Old Auditorium.
Congratulations to finalists (in alphabetical order) Ivy Lin (MMus) who performed Mozart Piano Concert No.27 in B-flat Major, K.595, Linda Ruan (Dip) who performed Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3 in C Minor, Op.37 and Brian Sun (BMus) who performed Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat Major, Op.83 and runner-up Rosabelle Lin (BMus) who performed Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1 in C Major, Op.15 for their beautiful and inspired performances.
Semi-finalists with Robert & Ellen Silverman, Sergei Saratovsky, Bogdan Dulu.
Brian Sun, Sergei Saratovsky, Ivy Lin, Bogdan Dulu, Linda Ruan with Robert & Ellen Silverman.
Mark Anderson with semi-finalists, Robert & Ellen Silverman, Sergei Saratovsky, Bogdan Dulu.
The Silverman Competition gala round will take place September 26. Each finalist will perform their concerto with conductor Jonathan Girard and the UBC Chamber Orchestra. Full event details will be announced later this year.
The Robert and Ellen Silverman Piano Concerto Competition bring together some of the UBC School of Music’s best and brightest young piano students for an evening of gorgeous and challenging music. The competition was designed to give students opportunities to perform with the UBC Chamber Orchestra in a high-profile public concert.
“Professionally, if any pianist is going to make it, playing a concerto and knowing how to do it is very important. There are only so many opportunities to play with the orchestra. Ellen and I thought, what can we do that would be good for the students and a good feature for the School?”
A heartfelt thank you to competition patrons Robert and Ellen Silverman for their generous and steadfast support, jury members Bogdan Dulu and Sergei Saratovsky for their sound judgement, to all who worked so hard to put this competition together, and to everyone who came out in support of our students!
