YourClassical’s Performance Today, America’s most popular classical music radio show, announces the four distinguished young musicians who have been selected as part of Performance Today Young Artists in Residence program. Each year, Performance Today works with the top music conservatories from around the country to identify the most promising talent to take part in the program.  

This year’s cohort of young musicians hail from around the country and will have the opportunity to interview and perform for nationwide radio broadcast with Performance Today host Valerie Kahler. The musicians will also participate in outreach to elementary- and middle-school students in Minnesota.  

“Like many Performance Today listeners, I have loved getting to know these young artists through their conversations and performances. It’s been a delight to connect with the future stars of classical music, and a thrill to follow their careers,” said Valerie Kahler, host of Performance Today. “This year’s young artists are incredibly talented and represent some of the best young musicians in the United States. I look forward to sharing their talents on Performance Today!” 

Short bios from each young artist can be found below.  

Claudia de Lourdes Díaz, soprano – San Francisco Conservatory of Music 

Claudia de Lourdes Díaz, soprano from Puerto Rico, recently earned a Performance Certificate in Voice Performance and Master of Music in 2024 from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. In March 2025, Díaz won first place in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition and was one of the Colorado-Wyoming District Winners of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition.  

In 2025, she made her symphonic debut with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto. In the spring of 2025, she made her role debut as Suor Angelica in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the Lamont Opera Theater.  

In fall of 2025, Díaz commenced an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she prepared for the 2026 Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition in the San Francisco District and for her role debut of Magda Civry from Puccini’s La Rondine with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Opera Theater. 

Elad Navon, clarinet – The Colburn School 

Israeli clarinetist Elad Navon is a recent First Prize winner of the ARD International Clarinet Competition in Munich, where he achieved a rare distinction by winning all three top prizes. 

In 2026, Elad will be performing with the Collegium Musicum Basel, as well as at the Ludwigsburg, Spannungen and the ARD chamber festivals in Germany. As an orchestral musician, Navon has performed with many of Israel’s leading ensembles, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel Contemporary Players, and the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Navon is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles under Prof. Yehuda Gilad. After studying with Ilya Shwarts in Jerusalem, Elad earned his B.M. at the Buchmann–Mehta School of Music in the class of Tibi Cziger, and a M.M. at the University of Southern California with Prof. Gilad.  

Clayton Stephenson, piano – New England Conservatory of Music 

Growing up in New York City, American pianist Clayton Stephenson started piano lessons at age 7, and the next year was accepted into The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program — a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students.  

Highlights of his 2025-26 season include a performance of the Brahms Concerto No. 2 with the Cincinnati Orchestra, and performances of Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Arts Festival, Festival Internazionale Palermo (Italy), Boston Pops and Sarasota Orchestra. Clayton finishes his season in spring 2026 on tour with the Stuttgart Philharmonic in Italy. 

Clayton Stephenson graduated from the Harvard-New England Conservatory (NEC) dual degree program in spring 2023 with a BA in economics from Harvard and a Masters degree in piano performance from NEC under Wha Kyung Byun. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, Stephenson received a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in 2024, and received a Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025. 

Sean Tereda Yang, piano – Shepherd School of Music at Rice University 

Sean Terada Yang is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese pianist born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.  

After making his concerto debut at age 16 with Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3 with the Germantown Symphony Orchestra, Sean has performed with the Tennessee All-State, Nashville Symphony, Vanderbilt University, Chautauqua Symphony, and Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestras. 

Sean has won top prizes at multiple international competitions; in the past two years, he has received top prizes at the National Federation of Music Clubs, Seattle International, Frances Walton, Memphis International, Chautauqua SAI Concerto, and Beardsley Piano Competitions.  

After receiving an undergraduate degree in neuroscience and piano from Vanderbilt University with Professor Amy Dorfman, Sean earned two master's degrees at the University of Michigan in Piano Performance and Chamber Music with Logan Skelton and Amy I-Lin Cheng. Sean is now pursuing his DMA at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music with Jon Kimura Parker.  

Learn more about Performance Today Young Artists in Residence program and listen to past Young Artists performances at yourclassical.org.  

When Brazilian violinist Samuel Frois began playing violin at the age of 9 with his local youth orchestra, he learned to play music by ear. He didn’t actually begin learning to read music until he started taking private lessons a few years later, around the age of 12. The 12-year-old Frois was so serious about playing the violin that he himself cold-called professional players asking them to be his teacher. Since that time, Frois has earned a bachelors degree from the Mannes School of Music in violin performance; he became Concertmaster of The Orchestra Now (TON); he was a four-time recipient of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Scholarship; he won 2nd prize in the 2023 Sphinx Orchestral Excerpts Competition; and now, he is a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence. If you were to ask Frois what he loves most about music, he’d likely talk about how music is deeply reflective of the human experience. And, if you were to hear him perform, this belief in the power of music to foster connection really comes through in the vulnerability and the passion of his playing.

Frois grew up in Contagem, a city in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. He came from a very musical family where everyone was active in church singing and playing music. These days, Frois frequently collaborates with both the Nashville and Richmond Symphonies, and in May of 2025, he obtained a master's degree in orchestral studies from The Orchestra Now at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Frois appears in these recordings with pianist Neilson Chen.

What’s another word for someone who is incredibly humble? Whatever the word is, you’ll undoubtedly find a photo of double bassist Nina Bernat’s lovely smiling face next to it in the Webster’s Dictionary. Already a celebrity, 25-year-old Bernat is acclaimed for the expressiveness and depth of her playing and the technical mastery she displays in every performance. Oregon ArtsWatch calls her “a poetic powerhouse”. The Minnesota Star Tribune says, she is a “standout”. Earrelevant.net referred to Bernat’s performances as “astonishing”.

When pianist Mary Jo Gothmann’s teenage daughter learned her mother would be playing with Bernat for her Performance Today Young Artist Residency, she reportedly had a fan-girl moment. And, during Bernat’s residency, she played a sold-out concert at local Minneapolis jazz lounge Berlin; the concert only had seven days of promotion.

Bernat is on the faculty at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. She is a regular fill-in musician with the New York Philharmonic and Bernat has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Minnesota Orchestra, the Israel and Oslo Philharmonics. A passionate chamber musician, she has also appeared at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at well-known festivals as Marlboro Music in Vermont, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and Music@Menlo in California.

A multi-prize winner, Bernat was a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the CAG Elmaleh Competition in 2023. Other awards include the 1st prize at the Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition and the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition.

Bernat grew up in a musical household where everyone played an instrument; her dad, Mark Bernat, an internationally recognized double bassist was Bernat’s teacher for the first ten years of her music education journey. With all the previously mentioned accolades and celebrity associated with Nina Bernat, she remains effortlessly easygoing, gracious and refreshingly thoughtful of others.

Bernat holds both a bachelor's and master’s degree in music performance from The Juilliard School of Music in New York City where she will also obtain her Artist Diploma in 2025.

Bernat appears in these performances with Minnesota-based pianist Mary Jo Gothmann.

If you ask violist Emad Zolfaghari about his life goals, he’d likely say that more than anything, he aspires to be a dog owner. True; all of his career goals amount to the ability to earn enough income to one day be able to live independently as a proud owner of one, preferably two, dogs. Now that he is a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence, it would seem that he is well on his way to a successful future in music and dog ownership.

Canadian American Emad Zolfaghari started playing the viola in his school orchestra at age 10 after being captivated by its chocolatey, velvety sound. He later went on to perform as principal viola with the Toronto Youth Symphony Orchestra, and he began study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at age 16.

Since that time, Zolfaghari has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Santa Cruz Symphony, the National Metropolitan Philharmonic, and the l’Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of superstar conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has also appeared at such festivals as Music from Angel Fire, Cleveland ChamberFest, Music in the Vineyards, and the renowned Perlman Music Program.

In 2024, the Violin Channel described Zolfaghari as “an enthralling young viola soloist overflowing with imagination and conviction”. 2024 was a banner year for Zolfaghari as in that same year, he became the first Canadian to ever be awarded both the first prize and the audience prize at the Primrose International Viola Competition, he was awarded a Charlotte White Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant and was named one of CBC Music’s classical “30 under 30” (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).

Zolfaghari’s other awards include the Grand Prize at the OMNI Music Competition and first prizes at the Toronto Symphony, Guelph Symphony, and Oakville Chamber Orchestra Competitions. When he’s not performing, rehearsing, or practicing, you’ll most likely find Zolfagahri working on perfecting one of his grandmother’s French-Canadian dishes or caring for his two pet guinea pigs, Coco and Chi-Chi. Zolfaghari will begin his fourth year in the Bachelor of Music program in viola performance at the Curtis Institute of Music in the Fall of 2025.

Zolfaghari appears in these recordings with pianist Vivian Fan.

Clarinet player Victor Ni grew up in Qingdao, China, taking a 5-hour train ride to clarinet lessons in Beijing; 5 hours each way. Since that time, Ni has studied at Interlochen in Michigan and the Colburn School in California. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in clarinet performance from the Eastman School of Music at Rochester University in New York and was the prize winner at the 2023 International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition.

Now, Victor Ni is the latest Performance Today Young Artist in Residence.

Ni has appeared with the National Youth Orchestra of China (NYO-China) both domestically and on two European tours and from 2016 to 2023 he’s routinely excelled in the competition world winning the second prize of the 2016 Central Conservatory of Music International Mozart Clarinet Competition in Beijing and snagging first place in the China National Clarinet Competition in Qingdao that same year. In 2020, Ni won the second prize at the Vandoren Emerging Artist competition. In 2021, he won the 1st Prize of the China-Spain International Music Competition - Clarinet session and the 1st Prize and the Grand Cash Prize of the Rising Star Berlin International Music Competition. In 2022, he was selected as a candidate for the Carl Nielsen International Competition.

On the festival circuit, Ni has appeared at such festivals as the Sarasota Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida, the Bowdoin Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Northern Germany. When we asked him about his career aspirations, Ni told us that he didn’t want to put a limit on what his career could look like because he is passionate about many different fields in classical music.

In addition to being an outstanding clarinet player, Ni is the kind of person who meets challenges with unhesitating optimism. And whenever he is not making music, you’ll likely find him in the kitchen cooking up his latest Chinese masterpiece to serve his friends. Ni is in his fifth year at the Eastman School working on a Master's in clarinet performance.

Pianist Samuel Leung joined Victor for this recording.

Chinese pianist Jiajun (David) Lai taught himself to speak English at a young age by listening to the radio and to recordings of musicals. Blind since birth, his love for music was sparked by his early fascination for auditory children’s toys. When Lai discovered the difference between a kid’s synthesizer toy keyboard and an actual piano, that early fascination turned into a deep passion for music.

Lai went on to study with renowned Chinese pianist Zhou Guangren. He was the first blind student in Beijing to take the national college entrance exam, also known as the Gao Kao. And, he graduated from one of the most highly regarded music schools in China. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. In 2021, he won first place in the Mozart Concerto Competition at the Jacobs School, and, in 2022, he won first place at the Brevard Music Festival Piano Solo Competition.

Now, he is the latest Performance Today Young Artist in Residence.

When he’s not practicing, performing or listening to the radio, Lai attends musical theater performances, writes Piano Puzzlers and regales his friends with show tunes on the piano. If you’re lucky, he might even sing along with you.

Fred Child calls Lai an extremely well-rounded musician with “an almost comprehensive knowledge of the American songbook.”

As Lai is extremely humble, Child’s description would most likely make him nervous. But, about his love of performance, Lai says he “envisions breaking barriers by sharing music through his performance and instruction.” 

Lai expects to graduate in the spring with a doctorate in music from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington.

According to his piano professor, Norman Krieger, “David Lai is a miracle musician-pianist and one of the finest talents I have ever taught.”

If Canadian violinist Daniel Dastoor actually had any spare time, you might be able to find him building websites or creating apps to automate tasks. To all intents and purposes, Dastoor has both a bachelor’s and a master’s in computer science. It wasn’t until recent years when he’d decided to pursue music full-time.  Over the past few years, Dastoor has completed two artist diploma programs in chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in California and the Glenn Gould School in Vaughan, Ontario. In the fall of 2024, he’ll begin a graduate diploma program at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.

When we asked Dastoor why he ended up choosing music over science, he said that he had to do some soul-searching after he found himself constantly thinking about music. While doing science activities or development work, his mind always wandered to repertoire, rehearsals and planning concerts. These days, you’ll find him touring and winning competitions as one-third of the Rilian Trio. Formed in 2021 at the Glenn Gould School, the Trio won the first prize, the audience prize, and the prize for best interpretation of the commissioned piece at the 12th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in 2023.

When he’s not with his trio, Dastoor is extremely active in the musical scene, giving solo, chamber, and orchestral performances across the U.S. and in Europe. He has performed as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic and with the Lethbridge Symphony. He’s served as a substitute in the Calgary Philharmonic and Red Deer Symphony Orchestras. He’s performed at such festivals as the Rockport Chamber Festival and Montreal Chamber Music Festival. Dastoor has also participated in the Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, the Bowdoin Fellowship Program, and the National Arts Center’s Young Artist Program, among others. Now, he can also count Performance Today Young Artist in Residence program as the latest in his list of accomplishments.

Dastoor is currently performing on the 1700 Taft Stradivari violin on a three-year loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. He also performs on a 1950 Louis Henri Gillet bow, on loan from the Canimex Group.
 
Dastoor appears here in these recordings with pianist Chris Soong.

In the 5th grade, Najee Greenlee wanted to get out of playing basketball, so he chose band for an afterschool activity. When he had trouble deciding what instrument to play, his band teacher handed him a clarinet. Now, at age 21, Greenlee is a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence.

Since that defining moment in the 5th grade, Greenlee has gone on to win a $30,000 scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. He appeared on National Public Radio’s From the Top in 2021, and in 2023, he was a recipient of a fellowship from the Aspen Music Festival and School. More recently, Greenlee was the winner of the Shepherd School of Music’s concerto competition and performed with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra under the baton of six-time Grammy Award-winning music director of the Nashville Symphony Giancarlo Guerrero.

In the Fall of 2024, Greenlee will enter his third year of study at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University with Richie Hawley.

Najee Greenlee appears here in these recordings with pianist Beilin Han.

South Korean harpist Jane Yoo started her musical journey playing the cello at a very young age, but she didn’t fall in love with music until she discovered the harp at age 13. She loved the harp so much that she’s known to practice for up to fifteen hours a day. When Yoo began her graduate studies in harp performance, her teacher told her to stop practicing so much and “get away from the harp.” Since that time, Yoo has performed in concerts all around the world from France to Hong Kong, to Israel, to the United States and she is truly one of the sweetest people you’ll ever have the pleasure to meet. 

Yoo has won numerous prizes in some of the biggest harp competitions in the world, including the USA International Harp Competition. She’s won top prizes at the Korean International Harp Competition, the Korean National Music Association, the Korean Chamber Orchestra Competition, and the Szeged Hungary International Harp Competition. Recently, she received an honorable mention from the Lyon and Healy Awards in 2022. 

As a soloist, Yoo has performed with such orchestras as Kangnam Symphony Orchestra, the Yale Philharmonia and the Seoul National University Orchestra. Most recently in 2023, Yoo joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as an associate principal harpist. In 2017, she was invited as a soloist in the “Focus on Youth” concert of World Harp Congress in Hong Kong and was twice named a Kumho Young Concert Artist by the Kumho Cultural Art Foundation in Seoul, South Korea; first in 2014 and then again in 2017.

Yoo holds a Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea and a Master of Music from Yale School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut. In May of 2024 she obtained an Artist Diploma from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland where she was the only musician to be admitted into the prestigious program with a unanimous vote. In the Fall of 2024, Yoo will begin study in the Ph. D. program in harp performance also at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Washington D.C. native Avery Gagliano was five years old when she got her start on the piano. At age 10, she made her first appearance on National Public Radio’s From the Top. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music as a pre-college student at age 14.

Then, at age 18, Gagliano received the Audience Prize at the 2019 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition, was the winner of the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, the MostArts Festival Piano Competition, and the 2019 National YoungArts Competition.

At age 19, she reached international distinction as the First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition.

The next year, at age 20, Gagliano made her Carnegie Hall debut, released her first album, Reflections, on the Steinway & Sons label and was the only American semifinalist at the 18th International Chopin Competition.

Now, at age 22, Avery Gagliano can add Performance Today Young Artist in Residence to her mounting list of achievements. And even though Gagliano is extremely poised and seems to just collect accolades as the years go by, she’d tell you that her music playing is rooted in faith and gratefulness. When we spoke to Gagliano about what music means to her, she said what’s most important is to glorify God with the talent she’s been given and to continue to share that gift with the world.

So far, we’d say Gagliano is well on her way in that endeavor to share her gift with the world. In addition to Carnegie Hall, she’s appeared on such stages as Warsaw Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, Poland, the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, France and the Luxembourg Philharmonie in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Her solo appearances with orchestras include performances with the Louisville Orchestra and the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Gagliano has also appeared at such festivals as the Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland, the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois and the Gilmore Piano Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Avery Gagliano holds a Bachelors degree in piano performance from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will begin graduate studies at the Kronberg Academy in Taunus, Germany under the guidance of her mentor Andras Schiff in the fall of 2024.

Most recently, Gagliano became a finalist of the 2025 American Pianists Awards. After a year of performances and adjudication, the winner will be named in April of 2025.

Violinist Sarah Ma is an Asian American artist from Queens, New York who is deeply committed to cultural advocacy, inclusion and artistic collaboration.

When we asked them the 5-year question regarding their future in music, Ma told us that whether it’s five years or fifty years, the answer would be the same. They said, “Making music is the most human thing that humans do” and “there’s zero doubt in my mind that in 50 years I’m still going to be making music for the sake of community because in the end…music feeds our community and there’s no other reason to be making music than that.”

It's clear that for them, community is at the very heart of everything they do. Here’s a long non-comprehensive list of accomplishments as evidence:

• While in undergrad, Ma conducted research focused on identifying solutions to improve the artistic livelihoods of conservatory students.

• They are an interdisciplinary artist with an educational background is in Comparative American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies.

• They helped found the Poeisis Quartet in 2022, which seeks to center non-traditional genres and underrepresented works in their programming.

• Ma has provided free music lessons to low-income students across the U.S. through the music education program Through the Staff.

• Ma is also an activist who has organized and participated in various protests and community events involving music, racial justice and the role of art in radical activism.

In 2023, they completed several artistic residencies while on tour in Uruguay.

Now, expanding their ever-growing list of accomplishments, Sarah Ma is the first in the 2023-2024 class of Performance Today Young Artists in Residence.

Last year, Ma alongside her fellow Poeisis Quartet members swept the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition when they won Fischoff’s Grand Prize, the Senior Strings Gold Medal and the Lift Every Voice prize. No stranger to competitive achievement, Ma was the youngest competitor and 2nd Prizewinner at the 2023 Dallas International Violin Competition. In 2017 and 2019, they were the youngest semi-finalist in the Cooper International Violin Competition and in 2016, they received the special prize for “Best Virtuoso Piece” in Italy’s Il Piccolo Violino Magico.

As a soloist, Ma has performed with such orchestras as the Dallas Chamber Symphony, the New York Chamber Players Orchestra and Manhattan School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra.

Ma holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. They are currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music where they study alongside their Poeisis Quartet members under the guidance of Kristin Lee and the Ariel Quartet.

When Armenian American mezzo-soprano Talin Nalbandian was born in Santa Monica, California, the labor and delivery doctor said, “It looks like we’ve got an opera singer!” He was right. Nalbandian worked as an opera singer in New York for five years before she began her doctoral program (with a focus on opera performance) at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. She’s won multiple prizes in vocal competitions such as the Henry and Maria Holt Vocal Competition, the Burbank Philharmonic Kennings-Fischer Competition, and the Butler Opera International Competition.

Poised with her new Doctor of Musical Arts degree, Nalbandian joins the 2022-2023 Performance Today Young Artists in Residence roster.

Music has always been in Talin Nalbandian’s soul. According to her parents, she would sing herself to sleep before she ever learned how to speak. At age 3, she joined her first choir and started taking voice lessons at age six. By the time she was nine, she’d already worked with the world-renowned American conductor Kent Nagano and the incomparable Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo. Since then, Nalbandian has worked with the Virginia Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera, among others.

Her roles include Maddalena (Rigoletto), Bianca (The Rape of Lucretia), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), as well as the roles of Hansel and Sandman in Hansel and Gretel and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Additionally, Nalbandian sang the role of Ruby in the west coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain in 2019. Most recently, she was invited to sing at the 88th Capitol Legislative Opening Session in January 2023.

Nalbandian also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pepperdine University and a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music.

Nalbandian appears here in these recordings with pianist Ana Moiseeva.

Jory Lane plays the mandolin, guitar, bass, and violin. He’s even dabbled a bit with the sitar and the banjo. He also sings and writes lyrics. And even though Lane can play all these instruments, he’s more than “pretty good” at playing the violin and mandolin. He’s won numerous performance competitions and awards, including the Eastman Violin Concerto Competition, the Colorado MTNA Competition, the Broomfield Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the fourth prize in the Walnut Valley Festival National Mandolin Championship.

On the heels of his recent graduation from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, Lane is the latest in the 2023 Performance Today Young Artists in Residence cohort. Jory Lane started his musical journey playing bluegrass and Celtic music in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a music tradition he still keeps up to this day when he visits his hometown. When he’s not winning competitions or jamming with bluegrass ensembles, Lane writes music and performs with his party, funk, and disco band Bourbon Chai.

He’s been seen in concert halls worldwide, from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Royal Concertgebouw in the Netherlands and the Elbphilharmonie in Germany. He has also served as concertmaster for orchestras like the Eastman Philharmonia, Colorado All-State Orchestra, and the Western States Honor Orchestra. Lane will spend the summer of 2023 as the concertmaster for the National Repertory Orchestra (NRO) before starting his Master’s program at the Juilliard School this fall.

Lane appears here in these performances with pianist William Shi.

Video: Jory Lane at the Walker Art Center

What three words come to mind when we think of pianist Vijay Venkatesh? Passionate, humble, and poetic. When asked about his love for jigsaw puzzles, he describes how the depiction of Venice in his favorite puzzle inspires him to incorporate the artist’s brush strokes into every performance of Chopin’s Barcarolle. At the age of 17, he viewed music as a gift to move the world that serves as a common link to touch the humanity in all people, a philosophy he called “Magic through Music.”

Vijay Venkatesh is a top prize winner in the San Jose, World Piano, and Waring International Piano Competitions. He was a 2008 Davidson Fellow Laureate at the Library of Congress and has performed as a soloist worldwide with orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Adding to his long list of accomplishments, he is now a 2022-2023 Performance Today Young Artist in Residence.

Venkatesh is also an active chamber musician who regularly tours with his wife, Eva Shaumkell, as the Vieness Piano Duo. He is the pianist in the Aristeia Trio and the 2016 gold medalist of the Frances Walton International Chamber Music Competition. He has appeared at the Aspen, Banff, and Sarasota Music Festivals.

Venkatesh earned a bachelor’s from USC Thornton and a master’s from IU Jacobs School of Music, where he was awarded the Barbara and David Jacobs Fellowship. He recently obtained an Artist Diploma from the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California.

In 2022, Venkatesh recorded two albums for Naxos and Albany Records, set for release sometime in 2023.

Video: Pianist Vijay Venkatesh

Cellist Leland Ko has performed as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide, from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada, Spain. He says that his ever-flowing well of energy and natural inclination toward restlessness led him to make music.

A former mentor once told Ko that “music is about life, not the other way around.” This advice is perhaps manifested in his choice to attend undergraduate school to pursue a degree in German Literature or his interest in calligraphy, origami, competitive tennis, and distance running.

Now, Ko is the latest in the 2022-2023 class of Performance Today Young Artists. In 2022, Ko was a cello candidate in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, one of the most demanding international competitions in the world. And in 2021, he won first prize at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition. When he’s not practicing, performing, or perfecting his tennis technique, you might find him baking or perfecting his latest recipe for soup.

Ko has been seen with such ensembles as Boston Landmarks Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra. As an avid chamber musician, he has also appeared at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival in Bridgehampton, New York, and the Yellow Barn Festival in Putney, Vermont.

Ko is in his first year as an Artist Diploma candidate at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. He also has a Master of Music from The Juilliard School in New York and an Artium Baccalaureus in German Literature from Princeton University in New Jersey.

Ko appears here in these performances with pianist Adria Ye.

Video: Leland Ko and pianist Adria Ye at Can Can Wonderland, St. Paul, Minnesota

Saxophonist Salvador Flores got his inspiration for playing music from his dad, who plays Mexican Regional Music. Flores obtained two postgraduate degrees in Classical Saxophone and Improvisation from the University of Michigan in 2022, and he’s the newest member of the United States Pershing’s Own Army Band. Now, Flores is the first in the 2022-2023 class of Performance Today Young Artists in Residence.

In high school, he was in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, with whom he performed at the John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts. Over the years, his musicianship has taken him from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. to concert engagements in Switzerland and Belgium, to stages all over the U.S., and hundreds of screaming fans. In his multi-disciplined career, Flores has performed in the Regional Mexican tradition touring with such groups as the Kikin y Los Astros, Conjunto Rio Grande, Conjunto Azabache, Revancha Norteña, and La Firmeza Norteña.

As a soloist, Flores performed with various ensembles, including the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, the University of Michigan Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Interlochen Philharmonic Orchestra.

As an active chamber musician, Flores is also the Soprano Chair of the Aero Quartet, who has received many prestigious awards, including being named a Gold Medalist and 1st Prize Winner of the 2021 Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition. They were also the 1st Prize Winners of the 2021 Briggs Chamber Music Competition, the 2021 Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition, and the 2021 NOLA Chamber Fest Graduate Competition. The quartet will release their Debut Album in May 2023 on Orchid Classics.

Flores appears here in these recordings with pianist Diane Park.

Video: Salvador Flores at Volstead's Emporium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

In the Spring of 2019, cellist Sterling Elliott was awarded 1st prize in the Senior Division of the 22nd Annual Sphinx Competition. He was the youngest Finalist in the prestigious competition. In 2021, Elliott joined the ranks of performers Gil Shaham, Yuja Wang, and Demarre McGill when he became a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant. Now, he is the latest Performance Today Young Artist in Residence.

Sterling Elliott began playing cello at age three and got his start in his family’s ensemble, The Elliott Family String Quartet. Since that time, Elliott has performed worldwide with orchestras like the Sphinx Virtuosi, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Dallas Symphony, among others. Elliott is one of the youngest musicians to work as a sub for the New York Philharmonic.

Elliott is also an avid chamber performer who has appeared at such festivals as Chamberfest Cleveland, Music@Menlo, and Festival Mosaic. When he’s not performing or practicing, you might find him in the kitchen working on his plating skills or in his family’s garage building his latest race car.

Currently, Elliott is a Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School, where he is pursuing his master of music degree studying with Joel Krosnick.  He completed his undergraduate degree in cello performance at Juilliard in May of 2021.

Elliott appears in these performances with collaborative pianist Luis Ortiz.

Violinist Anais Feller has only played the violin for about 11 years, but if you ever have the privilege of hearing her play, you’ll think you’re listening to 20+ years of musical experience. At 16 years old, Feller is one of the youngest violinists to appear as a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence. Presently very active, Feller regularly participates in summer academies in Europe and the U.S. and various chamber music festivals such as the Laguna Beach Music Festival in California and the Basically Beethoven Festival in Dallas, Texas. As a soloist, she has been seen with such orchestras as The Plano Symphony.

Feller won a gold medal at the Burgos International Festival Competition in Spain in 2019 and won second prize at The Southern California Philharmonic Young Artist Competition in 2020. She also devotes her time to performing at charity events such as the Christmas charity concerts for the Brain Trauma Foundation and a fundraising concert for Hurricane Harvey victims. Currently, Feller is enrolled in the pre-college program at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles, California, where she studies violin performance with teacher Martin Beaver.

When she’s not playing or practicing her violin, you’d likely find Feller in a dance class, as she is also a talented ballerina and contemporary dancer. She has performed in numerous productions of the Nutcracker with both the Dallas Ballet Center in Texas and Ballet Arte in Del Mar, California.

Feller appears in these recordings with collaborative pianist Alice Yoo.

For flutist Tyler Martin, the pandemic shutdown was a catalyst for rebirth; he competed in four music competitions and won or placed in them all. Martin also says that he began a paradigm shift during that time where he no longer saw himself as just a music student. He started to see himself as an artist who has a voice and has things to say.

Now, Martin is Performance Today’s newest Young Artist in Residence. And his participation in this year’s residency program came right on the heels of his recent win of the second flute and piccolo position with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. Martin already plays with the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, and he subs with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He does all of this while finishing up his 2nd Master’s degree in flute performance at the Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas. Martin has also performed internationally in countries including Spain, France, Italy, Brussels, Switzerland, and the Dominican Republic.

In addition to performing, Martin is also passionate about teaching, music advocacy, and amplifying BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) voices in classical music. He is an avid performer of new and contemporary music. In 2019, he was named the Engagement Director of a 501(c)3 non-profit organization as part of the inaugural class of Nova Fellows at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. While in that role, Martin produced various workshops, residencies, and outreach concerts throughout the Boston community. Martin holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago, Illinois.

Martin appears in these recordings with collaborative pianist Beilin Han.

It will take more than one or two words to adequately describe all that is Ariel Sol (Ari) Bertulfo Schwartz, the most recent PT Young Artist in Residence. He is not just a harpist and composer. Schwartz is also a producer and content creator who describes himself as a human-centered artist. He also bakes croissants from scratch in his spare time.

Schwartz thinks of performing arts as a form of communication, and he’s really big on community. When it comes to creating and performing, he takes an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together storytelling, linguistics, mathematics, sociology, and current events. Schwartz says he “aims to create community and unite listeners through per-oriented performance experiences” with his music. He also “strives to dismantle the traditional accessibility barriers associated with classical music.”

As a composer, Schwartz’s compositions have been recognized multiple times by the Illinois Music Education Association. He was recently named the 2021 winner of the 7th USA International Harp Competition Ruth Inglefield Composition Contest. As a performer, he has been tapped more than once by the Greater Chicago Chapter of the American Harp Society’s Scholarship Competition to perform as a soloist at Lyon & Healy.

Currently, Schwartz is pursuing a double major in harp performance and composition at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

To see Ari’s Performance Today in the Classroom Lesson featuring video performances click the link below:

If you take a look a Pianist Tristan Paradee's list of accomplishments, you see a kaleidoscope of gorgeous colors.

Paradee has been a gold medal winner of the Young Artists World Piano Concerto Competition three times. He was once a flying elf in a Target commercial. For a time, he even practiced the Brazilian martial art capoeira. Now, he can add Performance Today Young Artist in Residence to his resume.

Tristan Paradee, a native of Los Angeles, fell in love with piano at a very young age after seeing American classical pianist André Watts on Sesame Street. Today, Paradee attends the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University where Watts is a distinguished professor.

By the time Paradee was 16 years old, he had already played with nine symphony orchestras. Paradee has won numerous awards for his piano playing. The most recent was 1st place in the Los Angeles Music Center “Spotlight” Awards in 2019.

In conversation, Paradee is humble, and some might even say, soft-spoken. But, when he sits down at a piano he fills the room with his presence. The joy and passion he has for music radiates. And, if you visit his website, you won’t find a full bio or a list of his accomplishments and awards. You’ll find this simple quote about his relationship with music: “Music takes me to a place where I am happy and free.”

Paradee is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at Indiana University where he studies with Associate Professor of Music Roberto Plano.

If you ever find a dictionary listing for “Jane-of-all-trades”, you might just find a photo there of cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins. In addition to being a musician, Jacobs-Perkins is also a gardener, a cook, a boxer, and an environmental activist. She even once moonlighted as a cheesemonger. Now, she can add Performance Today Young Artist in Residence to her ever-growing resume.

When it comes to all of her various interests, Annie Jacobs-Perkins says that she “uses music as an instinctive tool to connect to the world around her.”  She says that her music-making is not only informed by all of her experiences,  it is enhanced by them as well.

Jacobs-Perkins has performed as a chamber musician, soloist, and principal cellist in some of the world's leading concert halls, including the Concertgebouw in the Netherlands and Carnegie Hall in New York. She has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Penfield Symphony Orchestra, the Burbank Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes.

Jacobs-Perkins is currently a member of the Callisto Piano Trio, the youngest group to ever medal in the senior division of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. And, in 2020, she was hired as the principal cellist of the Phoenix Chamber Orchestra, an organization in Boston committed to performing works by underrepresented composers in non-traditional venues. Jacobs-Perkins has a passion for championing the work of twenty-first century composers which has led her to work with composers such as Timo Andres and Jeffrey Mumford.

Jacobs-Perkins holds a Bachelor of Music degree with minors in German and English from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She most recently obtained a Graduate Diploma in May of 2021, also from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Annie Jacobs-Perkins is accompanied in these recordings by pianist Feng Niu.

Tuba Player Cristina Cutts Dougherty is used to shocking people and smashing barriers. In 2017, she became the first tubist in history to win the Grand Prize in the Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition; a prize usually awarded to string players. Dougherty is often the only female tuba soloist in the room and now, she is Performance Today’s first tubist Young Artist in Residence.

Dougherty has performed with brass musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She was a part of the "Full House Brass Quintet" at Music From Angel Fire Festival in 2019 and in 2020 she joined the guest-artist roster of Seraph Brass, a touring all-female brass quintet. Currently, Dougherty holds the position of Principal Tuba with Symphony in C, in Camden, New Jersey, and is the 2020-2021 Tuba Fellow for the Music Academy of the West.

When she’s not performing or practicing her technique, Dougherty is also a scholar. After she learned about Connie Weldon, the first woman to play tuba in a major American orchestra, Dougherty decided to write a book about fourteen pioneering women in brass. Dougherty says these women are “giants in the brass world” and she’s trying to do what she can to ensure that their legacies live on.

Dougherty is now a student of Craig Knox and Paul Krzywicki at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. And, she is the first female tubist to attend the Curtis Institute since its founding in 1924. Her book is expected to be released sometime in 2022.

Cristina appears in these performance with collaborative pianist Blair Salter.

To see Cristina Cutts Dougherty’s PT in the Classroom lesson and video performances, click the following link:

When violinist Randall Goosby was 6 years old, he was told that his hands were too small for the violin and that most aspiring violinists quit because of the difficulty. Its a good thing he didn't listen. Today, at 24 years old, Goosby is an award-winning violinist who performs all over the world with a debut album on the horizon with Decca Classics.

Goosby made his solo debut with the Jacksonville Symphony when he was 9 years old. Since that time he has appeared with such orchestras as The Cleveland Orchestra, the Buffalo, Rochester, and Orlando philharmonics, and the New World Symphony. As of Spring 2021, he can now add PT Young Artist in Residence to his impressive resume.

In addition to his demanding performance schedule, Goosby finds time to serve others through various community engagement programs across the country and in the UK. He gives private concerts for elderly and homebound patrons through a non-profit organization in New York City called Concerts in Motion. He also gives private virtual performances for COVID-19 patients through the non-profit organization Project: Music Heals Us.

Near and dear to his heart is playing music written by Black composers like Tyshawn Sorey and Florence Price. And, when we asked what motivates him the most, Goosby said that having the opportunity to inspire just one person to pick up an instrument or go check out a new piece is his ultimate goal.

Currently, Goosby is pursuing an Artist Diploma with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School, where he also earned undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Goosby appears in these performances with pianist Zhu Wang.

To see Randall Goosby’s Performance Today in the Classroom Lesson featuring video performances click here:

Lots of 13-year-old girls are obsessed over fashion, frenemies and crushes. When Lauren Anker was 13, she was falling in love with the French horn.

PT's latest Young Artist in Residence is horn player Lauren Anker. She grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia and was introduced to classical music at an early age by her mother, a cellist and strings teacher. Over the past ten years, Anker has won numerous awards and scholarships and has studied with some of the best horn players of our time. She has also performed at Chicago's Symphony Center, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Art Museum.

Anker credits summer music festivals for particularly nurturing her love for classical music. Her past festival experience includes the National Orchestral Institute, the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, and four summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Currently, Anker is pursuing a master's degree in Horn Performance under William VerMeulen at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas. In Houston, Anker also teaches private lessons and masterclasses to high school students and gives lectures and performances at community centers and retirement homes throughout the city. Since 2018, she's also been developing a private studio with VirtuAcademy, an online teaching platform.

In 2019, Anker obtained degrees in Horn Performance and History from Oberlin College and Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. She is a member of the Kodan Quintet and serves as a substitute horn with the Houston Symphony and Akron Symphony Orchestra.

When she isn't in class or practicing her playing, Anker is either hiking, biking or perfecting her mother's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Lauren Anker was accompanied in the studio by pianist Mei Rui.

To see Lauren Anker's Performance Today in the Classroom Lesson featuring video performances click here:

https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2021/03/25/performance-today-in-the-classroom-lauren-anker

Originally from New Zealand, violinist Geneva Lewis has been a member of many prize-winning ensembles and, as a soloist, has performed with such orchestras as the Pasadena Symphony and the Diablo Symphony Orchestra. Lewis has earned top prizes from such competitions as the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the St. Paul String Quartet Competition. Most recently, Lewis has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival and the Ravinia Steans Institute for Piano and Strings. She is currently a fourth-year Bachelor of Music student at the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA.

Geneva Lewis was accompanied in our studio by pianist Dina Vainshtein.

Clarinetist Max Opferkuch is the 2019 grand prize winner of the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts Instrumental Competition. He is also a 2019 fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Hailing from Encinitas, California, Opferkuch got his start in piano and violin as a child before switching to clarinet. He has performed with many orchestras and chamber ensembles, including All-State Honor Bands and the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra. Opferkuch is currently in his fourth year of study with Yehuda Gilad at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.

Max Opferkuch was joined in these performances by pianist Heejung Ju.  

Russian-American pianist Aleksandra Kasman has won several awards (most recently first prize at the Premio Roberto Melini International Competition) and enjoys a busy international performance itinerary. She has performed in the U.S., Russia, Ukraine, France, Italy, Japan, and South Korea. Kasman holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in 2019, she received her Master's degree from Juilliard, where she made her solo debut with the Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. Currently, Kasman is pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Michigan. She is also a dedicated educator: Kasman is a PianoArts Artist-in-Residence Fellow and has so far completed four PianoArts teaching and performance tours.

Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak is the first violist to debut as a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence. He is the 2019 winner of the John White Special Prize from the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and is a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City. Bak grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens and received his Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Alongside his performance schedule, Bak is a faculty member with the Opportunity Music Project in New York and serves as a teaching assistant for The Juilliard School in New York city.

Currently, Bak is enrolled in the Artist Diploma program at The Juilliard School where he also received his Master's degree. He is the third violist in history to be enrolled in Juilliard's Artist Diploma program.

Bak was joined in these performances by pianist Ji Yung Lee.

Sixteen-year-old powerhouse cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing is the youngest PT Young Artist in this year's program. She was the First Place Laureate in the Junior Division at the 2017 Sphinx Competition in Detroit, Michigan and she was the Second Place Laureate in 2016.

She has performed with such orchestras as the New World Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta among others.

In 2013, Ali-Landing was honored at the Friends of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Rising Stars Showcase, where she recorded the first movement of the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Camille Saint-Saens. Since that time, the video has had more than 88,000 YouTube views and over 11 million views on Facebook.

The Chicago native will begin undergraduate studies this fall at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles, California.

Ifetayo was joined in the studio by pianist Martial Besombes.