Pianofest's students have gone on to make their mark at both the national and international level. Here are some examples. Awadagin Pratt, Anthony Molinaro, and then Giles Vonsattel won the Walter F. Naumburg International Piano Competition. Sergei Babayan won the Robert Casadesus, Scottish International and Hamamatsu International Competitions. Kathryn Brown won the USIA Artistic Ambassador Competition. Hsin-Bei Lee won the Leschetitsky Association's New York Debut Competition. Myong Joo-Lee won the Pro Piano Debut Competition. Margarita Shevchenko won the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Alexander Slobodyanik was the winner of the Gilmore International Piano Award. Orion Weiss was awarded the Irving S. Gilmore Young Artist Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Andrew Russo won the Palm Beach Invitational International Competition. Yung Wook Yoo won the 13th Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition. Chuan Qin won the Beijing International Piano Competition. Van Cuong won the World International Piano Competition in Cincinnati and Konstantin Soukhovetski won the Hilton Head Competition.

In addition, Chuan Qin won First Prize in the Olivier Messiaen Competition in France. Orion Weiss and Konstantin Soukhovetski performed at Paul Hall in a concert broadcast over radio as co-winners of the Bachauer Competition. Soyeon Lee and Konstantin won the second and third prizes at the 2003 Cleveland International Piano Competition. In addition, Xiang Zou won the Honens International Competition. Other significant performances include: Greg Anderson’s performance of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 at Avery Fisher Hall; Orion Weiss’s debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and Michael Schneider’s performance at New York’s Weill Hall as winner of the Frina Auerbach competition. Gilles vonSattel joined the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.

Martin Leung has been recorded from a live Pianofest performance of Virgil Thomson’s Glissando etude. This performance is now available for viewing on the worldwide web on YouTube. Martin has also made several concert tours in South America and throughout the United States sponsored by Sony Entertainment. Konstantin Soukhovetsky won first prize in the New Orleans competition. A recording of American music by Andy Russo was nominated for a Grammy. Michelle Cann won first prize at the Tuesday Musical Club Competition in Akron, Ohio. Michael Brown was this year’s William Petchek Award winner at Juilliard. Many of Pianofest’s alumni continue to perform internationally and teach in leading schools. For example, Blair McMillen continues to receive rave reviews from the New York Times and others for his American contemporary music series at the Miller Theater of Columbia University. Jim Giles is a professor at Northwestern University and has released a CD of newly commissioned American works.