DANVILLE — Freshman Kathy Qiu won first place in the Gail and Harry Adams Young Artists Competition held Sunday at St. James United Methodist Church.

Qiu performed the third movement of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3. (Listen to her play the piece by clicking the audio icon at right.) It was Qiu's first time participating in the annual contest, which is sponsored by the Danville Symphony Orchestra.

She won $500 and will perform the same piece at DSO's March 14 Classical Masterworks concert at the Danville High School auditorium.

"I've been playing the piano for about nine years now, and I really like it," Qiu said. "It can be challenging, and it's a lot of hard work, but I think it's worth it. … It's really fun."

Another Uni student, junior Daniel Cheng, earned third place in the contest. Cheng, also a pianist, won $200. In November, he placed first in the Illinois State Music Teachers Association senior-level piano competition held at Wheaton College.

Other winners in the Young Artists Competition were Christopher Keeley of Urbana, bassoon, second place, $300; Pierre Viallant of Champaign, cello, honorable mention; and Emily Otnes of Urbana, flute, honorable mention.

This is the second consecutive year that a Uni student has won the Young Artists Competition. In 2008, Jennifer Roloff won for her performance of the first movement of Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto.

Though only a freshman, Qiu has already compiled an impressive list of competition honors. Last year, she placed third in the Young Baroque Artists Competition at the University of Illinois (Roloff was first).

Her résumé includes:

• First place, Chicago Area Music Teachers Association Piano Competition
• Second place, North Shore Music Teachers Association Competition (2007)
• Second place, Illinois State Music Teachers Association Competition (2007, junior level)
• Second place, Music Festival in Honor of Confucius Competition (2008)
• Honorable mention, Walgreens National Concerto Competition (2007)

Qiu — who also finds time to play basketball and write prize-winning essays, among other things — said she isn't sure how far she will pursue music after she graduates from high school.

For the time being, she practices for about an hour a day during the school week, longer on the weekends. Her piano teacher is Christos Tsitsaros, associate professor of piano pedagogy at the U of I. Before she moved to Champaign from Chicago, she studied with Brenda Huang.

She also plays violin in the Uni orchestra.