Meet our team of distinguished judges, who will be evaluating all of your submissions, and choosing the top six finalists in both the student and teacher categories:

Singing Expert

Deniz Cordell has a diverse background in theatre and music as a vocalist, instrumentalist, arranger, conductor, and director. His musical direction credits include The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Leonard Bernstein’s Peter Pan (Brandeis University), Robin Hood: A New Rock Musical, See What I Wanna See (New York City), and various productions with the New England Youth Theatre. Deniz’s writing and composition credits include music and lyrics for new musical Wash Your Linen, scripts for Moonfleet and Walter Koenig’s Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot (Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air), and liner notes for Intrada Records’ release of Leonard Rosenman’s Cross Creek. Deniz appears regularly with the New England Youth Theatre and as a vocal actor with Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air. He is musical advisor to 5th Floor Productions, a Manhattan-based theatre company.

Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air: http://www.colonialradio.com
New England Youth Theatre: http://www.neyt.org

StarPower Specialist

Hello! My name is Dylan Lau and I am currently a Senior at Punahou School in Honolulu Hawaii. I have been singing since I was five years old, and just last year won the Cheng and Tsui Japanese Karaoke competition! I LOVE Japanese and really owe it to my Sensei’s, fellow students, and family members for supporting me. It was really a great honor and I am looking forward to watching all of this year's entries!

I didn't win the first year I competed, however, and I think that just goes to show how a little perseverance pays off in the end. So don't be discouraged, and keep sending those videos in! Best of luck to everyone—sing your hearts out! :D

Japanese Language Expert

Yoko Miwa-Cook was born in Gifu, Japan, graduated from Kansai-Gaidai University in Osaka, spending her senior year at Washington State University as an exchange student. She first came to Oregon as a volunteer Japanese teacher at Central High School in 1992. After spending a year back in Japan, Yoko returned to Oregon to earn a second bachelor's degree and a Master's in Education at Portland State University. Yoko has been a teacher at Valley Catholic School in Beaverton, Oregon since 1999. She currently teaches Japanese I-V. Yoko's hobbies are learning Korean, Japanese calligraphy, and illustrating. She also participated in the 2009 Cheng & Tsui SuperStar contest and is ready to offer her language expertise to the 2010 contest participants!