Twelve semifinalists, all between the ages of 14 and 18 years old have been chosen by the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans to contend with each other for over $20,000 in prize money at the New Orleans International Piano Competition. The event will be held July 24-31, 2012. Numbered among this elite group are: Joey Chang, Anna Han, Kimberly Hou, Hugo Kitano, Trenton Takaki and Angie Zhang, all of the United States; Peng Lin, Yfan Sun, and Yutong Sun, of China; Dong-Yeon Kim, and Min Joo Yi, of Korea, and Seika Ishida, of Japan.

Tickets for this event are available from July 1 by calling (504) 899-4826. The 2011 competition will be streamed live via opens in a new windowwww.hallpiano.com beginning at 7:00pm July 25.