2026 Irvine International Music Competition Jury Members

Dr. Shun-Lin Chou

Dr. Shun-Lin Chou has pursued a distinguished career as a pianist, artist-teacher, and university administrator for more than three decades. He has performed internationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, appearing with more than a dozen orchestras and in such notable venues as the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, and the Eastman Theatre. His international recital tours have taken him throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, with performances in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

An experienced chamber musician, Chou was a member of the Hawthorne Trio, formerly the resident artist ensemble at Missouri State University, and has collaborated in performance with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In demand as an adjudicator and clinician, he has judged numerous competitions at the regional, state, division, and national levels. His adjudication work has included the Music Teachers’ Association of California’s Panel and Young Artist Guild finals and Piano Concerto/Solo Competition, as well as Music Teachers National Association state and division performance competitions. He was also invited to present a Guest Artist Master Class at the 2024 MTAC State Convention. Additional invitations to give master classes and lecture-recitals have taken him to colleges and universities across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

A dedicated teacher and leader in professional music organizations, Chou has served as California state chair of the MTNA Performance Competitions and currently serves as chair of the MTNA Southwest Division competitions. His scholarly interests encompass piano performance, literature, and descriptive bibliography. At an international symposium devoted to Johannes Brahms, he presented the paper “Brahms’ Piano Idiom: Toward a New Virtuosity.” His research in the descriptive bibliography of printed music has also inspired an extensive interest in collecting nineteenth-century scores.

Dr. Shun-Lin “Sam” Chou is Professor of Piano and Director of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Since 2019, he has also served as Associate Director of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. A notable distinction of his tenure was the establishment in 2022 of the Shun-Lin Chou Endowment for Keyboard Studies, honoring his contributions as a performer, pedagogue, and leader. Before joining the CSULB faculty in 2003, he was Associate Professor of Piano at Missouri State University.

Chou has also held teaching positions at the Tunghai University International Summer Music Festival in Taiwan, the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, the University of Michigan’s Preparatory Piano Laboratory Program, and the Eastman School of Music. His former students have won significant competitions and established successful musical careers, including appointments to full-time university faculty positions in the United States and Asia.

Chou earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded a graduate fellowship. He received his master’s degree in piano pedagogy and performance from the University of Michigan. His principal teachers include Nelita True, Louis Nagel, and Reginald Gerig. Before devoting himself fully to music, Chou studied medicine at the University of Chicago from 1988 to 1990.

Dr. Ji Young An

Violinist Ji Young An is an accomplished performer, studio musician, and educator based in Los Angeles. Recently appointed Concertmaster of the Santa Monica Symphony, she also serves as Acting Concertmaster of the San Bernardino Symphony, Principal Second Violin of Opera Santa Barbara, and Acting Principal Second Violin of the Redlands Symphony.

An performs regularly with leading Southern California ensembles, including the Pacific Symphony and Santa Barbara Symphony, and serves as Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop and Competition during its summer season. She is also an active studio musician whose performances can be heard on numerous film, television, and video game soundtracks.

Known for her versatility and musical leadership, An is equally dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musicians. She is a Continuing Lecturer in Violin Performance at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she teaches violin, coaches chamber music, and mentors young artists.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, An received her early professional training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris before continuing her studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she earned both her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees on full scholarship.

Dr. Geoffrey Pope

Director of Orchestral Studies and Assistant Professor, UC IRVINE

Dr. Geoffrey Pope is the Director of Orchestral Studies and an Assistant Professor of Teaching at UCI. His dynamic professional career spans continents, genres, and musical disciplines. Recognized through numerous appointments, commissions, and awards as a conductor and composer, Pope seeks to present provocative, inclusive, and engaging performances that have a strong cultural impact.

Much of his conducting work builds upon the standard repertoire, exploring contemporary music, opera, and multimedia spheres, including art installations and film scores. Recent performances include the Los Angeles premiere of John Williams’ Prelude and Scherzo, a piano concerto written for Gloria Cheng and Lang Lang, with Ms. Cheng performing with the Santa Monica Symphony. Last fall welcomed releases of Pope’s recordings of several new works, including Noah Meites’ Counting, as well as Corey Field’s The Trial of Benjamin Britten, a monodrama in nine scenes, featuring tenor Todd Strange and hornist Dylan Hart. Recent performances include UC Irvine’s acclaimed production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, stage directed by Andreas Mitisek, formerly Artistic and General Director of Long Beach Opera, as well as the masterworks concerts with the Beach Cities Symphony, where he was Music Director and Conductor from 2020-2025. He continues to be a featured lecturer with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, giving numerous pre-concert Upbeat Live presentations.

Other recent performances include Puccini’s La bohème with Valley Opera and Performing Arts, and a live-to-film performance Kathryn Bostic’s new score to The Flying Ace (1927) at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Museum in a celebration of early Black cinema, the premiere of David Reyes’ Aztec opera El Circo Anahuac, the premiere of Jason Barabba’s Lettere da Triggiano oratorio with Synchromy and members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, a multimedia concert performance of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and Son of Chamber Symphony for the composer at the Inside the (G)Earbox: John Adams @ 70 symposium held at UCLA. Prior to this he conducted Benjamin Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia as part of the worldwide Benjamin Britten Centenary celebrations, with “energy and flair” (Boston Classical Review), leading a “warm and expressive rendering of Britten’s complicated score” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), and performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire throughout the Denver Metropolitan Area. Other concert music recordings appear on the Open Space, Orenda Records, and Perspectives on New Music labels.

Pope is also dedicated to musical performance on a global scale, and is a regular conductor of concert and media music in the recording studios of Hollywood and Budapest. Recent projects include conducting scores for Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and many independent studios worldwide. He was the music director and conductor of Music in Light, an immersive classical music multimedia installation that opened in April 2024 in Macau, and in August 2023, he was hired to conduct and record the orchestra and choir for the St. Stephen’s Day fireworks display along the Danube, a yearly televised event akin to America’s Independence Day celebrations. His conducting and/or orchestration work can also be heard on numerous motion pictures, television series, and videogames, including League of Legends, The Woman King, and the Emmy-winning score to Kung Fu Panda on Netflix. As a forensic musicologist, industry consultant, and researcher, Pope has worked nearly a decade on behalf of composers, studios, music supervisors, and attorneys. His company, Musical Problem-Solver LLC, maintains a formidable international clientele base.

Dr. Pope’s degrees in composition and conducting were completed at USC, UCLA, and the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. While a doctoral conducting student at UCLA, Pope presented symphonic programs including an exploration of connections between music of Richard Wagner and Bernard Herrmann. His scholarly interests include Viennese music of the early twentieth century, and the role of diegetic music in the evolution of sonic spatialization. His dissertation addressed the evolving role of instrumental music written to be performed onstage (Bühnenmusik, or banda) in German language opera, and the coordination issues involved in its execution and synchronization with the orchestra pit. Pope’s dissertation was used as a primary support document in the Vienna State Opera musicians’ petition to declare Bühnenmusik as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Prior to his his full-time appointment, Pope served as a lecturer at UCI from 2022-2025, where he conducted the orchestra and opera and taught orchestration and conducting. He joined the faculty of Chapman University as a guest lecturer for the fall 2024 term teaching private conducting students and a score analysis seminar, and has been a guest instructor at California State University, Long Beach and the University of Miami. He is currently President of the Western Region of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA).