Butler Music Student Wins Big at International Marimba Competition
- Sep 22, 2026
Butler School of Music graduate student Erika Chia-Yu Lin earned second prize at the 2026 Universal Marimba Competition, one of the world’s premier international showcases for percussionists. The 25th annual event in Belgium brought together leading marimba performers from more than 20 countries.
The award adds to Lin's already impressive run of international competition success. In 2025, she earned second prize at the Great Plains International Marimba Competition.
Lin earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Taipei in Taiwan and later completed a master’s degree at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin in Germany. She then traveled halfway around the world to study at the Butler School at The University of Texas at Austin.
“Butler made my dreams come true,” she said.
For Lin, one of the greatest strengths of the Butler School is its faculty and, more importantly, the collaborative environment they create. There, she found a circle of musicians who shared different perspectives and areas of expertise.
That collective became particularly important when she began preparing for the Universal Marimba Competition. Lin received the repertoire — the collection of skills she would have to complete — in May 2026, just as the academic year was ending. She had only a few months to prepare an extensive and demanding program. Her summer vacation quickly became a summer of preparation.
For two months, Lin worked closely with her principal teachers, Thomas Burritt and Ivan Trevino, taking lessons and refining the repertoire that would eventually carry her through four rounds of international competition.
The preparation appears to have paid off. Despite performing at one of the highest levels, Lin said she experienced very little stage fright when she began to play.
Lin walked onto the international stage in Belgium and emerged with a second-place finish, adding another major achievement to her rapidly growing career as one of the world’s leading young marimba performers.
