 |
|---|
Chinmay Deshpande
Composer, Piano
Chinmay, 15, studies piano at the School for Strings in New York City, and composition at the Mannes School of Music. He has attended summer programs at Kinhaven Music School, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Berkshire Summer Music, InterHarmony Music Festival, and the Accademia Perosi. He has also been a participant at the Chamber Music Center of New York. Chinmay is a student at the Collegiate School.
Conrad Asman
Composer, Piano
Conrad Asman (b.1996) studies composition at the South African College of Music where, as the youngest undergraduate participant, he won the Cone of Composition in 2015 for his work Hysteria. He also won joint first prize of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra Composition Competition, for his large orchestral piece Igniting Kites & Flying Fireworks.
Asman attended the Young Artist Summer Program hosted by the Curtis Institute of Music in 2016. He made his Carnegie Hall début in 2017 with the Cape Town Youth Choir, who performed his work On a Night -- which had won the Stefans Grové National choral composition competition in 2016. Conrad has also worked with the Chorosynthesis, and is also currently recognized as the laureate of the Polyphonos Young Composer award, bestowed by the choral group The Esoterics in Seattle. Conrad is currently working on international commissions, and he looks forward to collaborating with more musicians.
Melanie Berman
Voice (Soprano)
Melanie Berman, 20, is currently a student at Princeton University pursuing a liberal arts degree. She attended the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Program as a Vocal Performance major and continues to pursue opera, studying voice in New York City with Lorraine Nubar and Sooyeon Kim while at Princeton. Berman has experience singing and recording new music with composers at her school. She has also done many competitions and programs such as the Bel Canto Institute in Florence and The Académie Internationale d’Eté de Nice that have allowed her to study and perform all over the world from Europe to Carnegie Hall.
Sujari Britt
Cello
Sujari Britt started playing the cello at age four, following her study on the violin, and piano. She began her college studies at MSM in fall 2014 at age 14. Sujari was the recipient of the Dianne Flagello Endowment Scholarship (2009-10) and the Sidney E. Frank Foundation Scholarship at MSM (2010-14), where she studies with Marion Feldman. She also won first place in the 2008 AMTL scholarship competition. In November 2009, Sujari had the honor of performing with Alisa Weilerstein at the White House for President Obama. She won the concerto competition in 2010-11, and was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award by From the Top in 2011. Sujari opened the 2014-15 season with Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra. She also participates in the Kronos Quartet Program with Kaufman Center’s Face the Music, Harlem Chamber Players, and Aziza and the Cure, a symphonic-soul-pop band co-founded by her sister Joelle. Sujari has participated in various summer music festivals and her interests include painting, acting, running, music composition and fiction writing!
Benjamin Ferriby
Voice (Baritone)
Benjamin Ferriby was a student of vocal studies till eighth grade at Saint Thomas Choir School in New York. He sang, toured, and recorded with the Choir of Men and Boys at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue under the direction of John Scott. Returning to Connecticut for high school, Ben continued his vocal studies as a bass-baritone with John Taylor Ward. Ben currently studies voice with Dann Coakwell and piano with Sarah Kohane. In Summer 2015, Ben participated in the Young Artists Vocal Program at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Ben also sang with the Yale Camerata and Yale Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Marguerite L. Brooks during the 2015-2016 concert season. Ben will be continuing his musical studies at DePauw University in Fall 2016.
Valerie Kim
Violin
Valerie Kim, violin soloist and chamber musician, is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree under the mentorship of Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. She has performanced in the 2015 Starling DeLay Symposium, NPR's From the Top Show 307, La Jolla Music Society’s 2011 SummerFest, 2011 “Rising Stars” concert at the Ventura Music Festival, as well as a student of the Perlman Music Program since 2010 in New York, Israel, Florida, and Stanford University. Valerie was a piano and violin soloist in the San Diego Symphony Orchestra three times, and in the San Diego Youth Symphony, Civic Youth Orchestra, San Diego Young Artist Symphony, and the New City Sinfonia. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Copley Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and California Center for the Arts. Valerie has previously studied with Donald Weilerstein, Catherine Cho, Sarah Chang, Ida Kavafian, Joseph Kalichstein, Cho-Liang Lin, Merry Peckham, Giora Schmidt, and Pinchas Zukerman. Valerie is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School.
Amanda Lazkani
Piano, Viola
Amanda Lazkani, pianist and a native of Brooklyn, NY, was accepted to the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division in 2007. Currently a Senior at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, she thoroughly enjoys the musical diversity of playing both piano and viola. She has earned her position in Symphony Orchestra in Manhattan School of Music and Senior Orchestra at LaGuardia High School. She was one of the youngest pianists selected to perform in the Associated Music Teachers League Young Musicians Concert, held at the Carnegie Hall for the past four years. Music inspires Amanda and it is her special passion. She works with younger children in her community, sharing her enthusiasm, and bringing the joy of music to those around her.
Jimin Park
Voice (Soprano)
Korean Soprano, Jimin Park, is in her second year of the Juilliard Pre-College Voice Division, where she studies with Lorraine Nubar and Sooyeon Kim. She has won many international competitions including: The Yewon Competition (2011), The Crescendo International Music Competition (2014) and The New York International Music Competition (2014). Jimin has performed with The Professional Orchestra of Ukraine in South Korea, and twice at Carnegie Hall. The past two summers Jimin has spent in Nice, France attending The Académie Internationale d’Eté de Nice Program, and she will be attending The Boston University Tanglewood Institute this summer. She is currently a high school junior at Northern Valley Regional High School, in Demarest, NJ.
Richard Pittsinger
Voice (Tenor)
Richard Pittsinger attends Valley Regional High School in Deep River, CT, and the Juilliard School Pre College Program, majoring in Voice. He previously attended the St. Thomas Choir School, where he performed and recorded as soprano soloist. In April 2014, Richard received the “Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role” award for his role as Marius in “Les Miserables” at the Williams School in New London, CT. In 2012, he performed the solo in Anatomy of Peace with Essential Voices for the Marvin Hamlish Memorial Concert at Juilliard, alongside legendary artists Barbra Streisand, Liza Minelli, Aretha Franklin, and Itzhak Perlman. Later, Richard sang with the Pittsburgh Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin in the premiere of Arlington Sons, and performed as Tom of Warwick in Camelot at the Glimmerglass Festival. Recently, Richard received a perfect score at the NEMFA auditions, and the Carolyn Greenleaf Memorial Award.
Lila Wildy Quillin
Composer
Lila Wildy Quillin is a composer from the Atlantic coast of Maryland, currently attending The Salisbury School. She is a student of Dr. Judah Adashi at Peabody Preparatory, where she was the recipient of The Peabody Preparatory Achievement Award in Composition in 2016. Lila attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 2015 and the Curtis Summerfest Young Artist Summer Program in 2016 for composition. Her performed works include pieces for full orchestra and band, as well as numerous chamber pieces, including pieces for string quartet, brass quintet, wind quintet, voice trio, and clarinet and piano duet. She enjoys studying piano and playing clarinet in several large ensembles. Lila also has a passion for the visual arts and exploring nature.
Lindsey Reynolds
Voice (Soprano)
Lindsey Reynolds, Soprano, is a student at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), under the direction of Phyllis Treigle. Lindsey has been featured on NPR’s From The Top, is a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, and won second place at the Classical Singer National Competition in 2015. She has been featured in NOCCA’s production as Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo in 2016 and Barigoule in Viardot’s Cendrillon in 2015. Lindsey will be attending Chautauqua Institution's vocal program this summer. After graduating from NOCCA in May 2016, Lindsey is pleased to continue her studies at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in Fall 2016.
Elliot Roman
Piano, Flute, Guitar, Composition
Elliot Roman is a composer as well as a pianist, flutist, and guitarist. Currently at the Dwight-Englewood School (DES) in Englewood, NJ, he has composed music for the theater and for instrumental ensembles. In 2016, he won the first prize in the Christopher Newport University Young Composers Competition for his string quartet, “Boston: Past vs. Present”. He wrote original music for "Dracula" (2013), co-wrote the underscore for "Little 2 Middle" (2013), and was the Assistant Musical Director for "The Pirates of Penzance" (2014). His instrumental compositions include a piano quintet, a flute trio, works for solo piano, a duet for trumpet and tuba, and a duet for bass clarinet and marimba. As a soloist, Elliot played the harpsichord in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (on piano) at the Carnegie Hall with StringJam. He won the first prize in the DES Concerto Competition and performed the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 (2015). He has also performed at the Handel Festival Orchestra (harpsichord), VP Opera NYC (flute/piccolo), and Face the Music (piano).
Samuel Rosner
Voice (Tenor), Composition
Samuel Rosner (tenor), 18, is from Scarsdale, New York, where he attends Scarsdale High School. He studies with Lorraine Nubar at the Juilliard Pre-College Division. Samuel is the recipient of a grant from the ASCAP Foundation’s Irving Caesar Fund to be featured as a young composer on From the Top. He has attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Vocal Program and has performed as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and the Hazamir Choir. Samuel composes and plays the piano. Outside of music, he enjoys photography, nature, and hiking.
Melanie Spector
Voice (Soprano), French Horn
Melanie Spector is a soprano pursuing a BM in Vocal Performance at Manhattan School of Music. She also plays piano and French horn. For seven years she sang in the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, performing 167 times in eleven different operas in five languages. She studied both Vocal and French Horn Performance at Manhattan School of Music Precollege for two years. This year at MSM, she sang in several vocal recitals and choral concerts, and played Principal Horn in the MSM Senior Opera Theater Orchestra. Melanie enjoys writing for her opera blog: msoperageek.wordpress.com. She also enjoys identifying as @MsOperaGeek on Twitter, where she converses with fellow opera fans all over the world. This summer, she is working as an editorial intern at Opera News.
Sophia Steger
Violin
Sophia Steger is a violinist and a scholarship student at the MSM’s Precollege Division, studying with Patinka Kopec. She has won top prizes in numerous competitions, and has performed as a soloist and with the MSM Precollege Symphony; chamber works at MSM, the Heifetz International Music Institute (2014, 2015), Greenwood Music Camp, and this summer will attend the Castleman Quartet Program. For the past three years, Sophia has been a member of Face the Music’s “Kronos at Kaufman” quartet program, and her quartet, Pannonia, was featured on NPR’s “Performance Today,” The New Yorker, and in The New York Times. Sophia loves sharing music with kids and frequently performs at benefit concerts/recitals to support humanitarian and environmental organizations.