In the summer of 2025, Han Yun Liang (also known as Jonathan Liang) accomplished something that does not happen often in professional trombone competition. He won first prize in two International Trombone Association events in the same year: the Lewis Van Haney Orchestral Excerpt Competition and the Robert Marsteller Solo Competition. These are not variations of the same test. The orchestral event demands the precision and section-level discipline required of a principal player sitting inside a full ensemble. The solo event asks for interpretive authority and command without the structure of an orchestra around you. Winning both in one cycle is, by any reasonable measure, a rarity.
The Paper Trail Behind the Prize
The 2025 results did not come without precedent. In 2020, Liang won First Prize in Category C at the Hungarian Trombone Camp International Competition. The event drew candidates from across the world, with all preliminary rounds conducted by recording submission, a format that removed much of the in-person performance structure competitors rely on and placed the full weight of the result on the recording alone. The jury for that competition included Christian Lindberg, Joseph Alessi, and Jay Friedman, three figures whose collective authority in the brass world makes any result they render consequential.
In 2022, Liang was selected to participate in the 71st ARD International Music Competition, a European event with a rigorous screening process that eliminates most applicants before any live rounds take place. That same year, he reached the finalist stage at the American Trombone National Competition.
His selection as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West in both 2024 and 2025 sits alongside these results. The program accepts approximately 200 musicians from over 1,800 global applicants per cycle, an acceptance rate near 11 percent, and its selections reflect professional-level assessment of artistic potential.
From the Competition Stage to a Principal Chair
Alongside his competition history, Liang holds the position of Acting Principal Trombone with the Richmond Symphony, secured through a rigorous international audition process. As section leader for the Low Brass, he is responsible for intonation, articulation, and stylistic coordination across the section, and for evaluating the orchestra’s substitute musician list, which means he directly influences the caliber of talent the ensemble can draw on across a full season.
His orchestral work includes performances at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, where he held the principal trombone chair for the Colburn Orchestra. Under conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Earl Lee, he led the brass section through Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, repertoire widely regarded as a gold standard for orchestral brass, before near-capacity audiences exceeding 2,200 people.
What the Double Win Represents
Both ITA competitions attract international fields, with preliminary recording rounds eliminating the majority of applicants before any live final. The jury for each event consists of leading figures in the trombone profession, and their decisions reflect assessment at the field’s highest available level. For one musician to place first in both the orchestral and solo disciplines in the same year, two events that test genuinely different capacities, is a result that confirms a range of ability most professionals develop in one direction or the other, not both.
Liang’s record now spans competition victories across three continents, a professional principal appointment at a major American symphony orchestra, and landmark performances at some of North America’s most prestigious venues. The 2025 ITA double is the most public confirmation yet of where he stands.
Photo Credit to Christian Thesken
