Katherine Jang, age 10, currently studies with Elizabeth MacCorquodale. She has won awards in the Elite International Music Competition, the Kamsa Competition, and the 2021 Vivo International Music Competition in which she was selected as the 'Judge's Pick.' In June 2022, Katherine was selected for a concerto opportunity from Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and performed as a soloist with Sinfonia orchestra conducted by Benjamin Simon. Besides playing violin, she enjoys reading, writing and cuddling with her dog.

Madelyn started her first violin lesson at age five-and-a-half and currently studies with Zhao Wei. She is a member of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra (PACO). In 2021, she won First Place in the U.S. International Music Competition (Group A).  Madelyn attends Duveneck Elementary School in Palo Alto.  In her spare time, she loves gymnastics, reading, math, arts, attending Girl Scout activities, and playing with friends.

Jessie, age 9, is a talented young musician who attends Challenger School in San Jose and is currently in the 4th grade. She first picked up the violin at the age of 6 and embarked on her musical journey. With dedication and hard work Jessie quickly progressed, and at the age of 9 began studying in San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College with William Barbini and currently studies with Amy Beth Horman. Jessie is proficient in playing both piano and violin and has won numerous competitions with both instruments, including First Place in piano in the United States Open Music Competition (USOMC), Second Place in violin in the USOMC, Second Place in violin in the American Music Talent Competition, and many more. Apart from music, Jessie enjoys many other hobbies that empower her to further appreciate the beauty of life, such as dancing, vocal, golf, reading, writing essays, studying science, drawing, and traveling. She has been traveling and studying music from different musicians from different countries, including France, Germany, Canada, and Japan.

Aaron Ma began his musical journey by learning piano at the age of 3 with his mother, and then started violin studies at the age of 5 with Zhao Wei. He studies piano with William Wellborn and violin with Zhao Wei at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Additionally, he is coached by SF Symphony violinist David Chernyavsky. This summer, Aaron was selected to participate in the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival. Aaron has received first prizes in numerous competitions including the Showcase Solo and Ensemble-Sonata Categories of USOMC with the Outstanding Gold Medalists Award, the France International Music Competition Virtuoso category, the Rising Talents of America of the GCC, the UK international competition, the Young Prodigy of the USIOMC, the San Francisco International Innovative Music Competition, and the Enkor International competition. Aaron is a member of the SF symphony youth orchestra and a student at Harker School. He also swims competitively with Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics.

Cara, age 13, began cello lessons at age 4 with Alan Yang. Since 2020, Cara has been studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) Pre-College division under Amos Yang. She has won various competitions, including First Place in the KAMSA Competition, First Place in the CalASTA Strings State Competition, Outstanding Gold Medalist in the U.S. Open Music Competition (2022, 2023), Second Place in the Houston International Music Competition, and First Place in American Protégé International Concerto Competition. She made her solo concerto debut this season with the Central Oregon Symphony and will also perform with the Castro Valley Orchestra and Symphony Parnassus (as winner of the SFCM Pre-College Concerto Competition).  She has previously performed in Carnegie Hall, the Junior Bach Festival, and various community events. Cara loves collaborating with others and is currently principal cellist of the SFCM Pre-College String Orchestra and Hopkins Jr. High Advanced Orchestra. This summer, Cara will study at the Meadowmount School of Music.

Sydney, 12, is a 7th grader at the Chinese American International School in SF. She began playing violin at age 3 with Heather Powell Ludmir and currently studies at the SF Conservatory of Music with Elbert Tsai. Sydney has won numerous awards in competitions including Pacific Music Society (2021, 2023), KAMSA (2022, 2023), Marin Music Chest (2021, 2022) including the Robert Greenwood Award for Outstanding Performance, Junior Bach (2022, 2023), International Youth Music Competition (Absolute Winner, Artist of the Year 2022), and USOMC (2021), and was selected as a finalist at the Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition (2023). Sydney is the Co-Concertmaster of the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra and its youngest member. She has performed in master classes for acclaimed violinists and pedagogues Danielle Belen, Jessie Montgomery, and Simone Porter. In addition to music, Sydney enjoys expressing herself creatively in other art media including singing, dancing, drawing, and painting.

Dustin, age 16, began violin lessons at age 4 with David Mallory. By the age of 7, Dustin had started studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-college Division under William Barbini, and currently studies with Zhao Wei. Dustin has soloed with 7 different orchestras since the age of 6. He has won numerous solo awards, including winner in the Parnassus-San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition and Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Movement Competition and First Place in the MTAC State VOCE Competition, Bay Philharmonic Young Artist Competition, Nova Vista Young Artist Competition, U.S. International Music Competition, U.S. Open Music Competition, ASTA-San Francisco Competition, ASTA-Sacramento Competition, CAPMT-Sacramento Competition, DVC-HNU Strings Competition, and Classical Masters Competition. Dustin is a recipient of the 2021 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

Daniel Yim, 16, is a junior at Bellarmine College Preparatory and studies with Kyeong-hwa Kim. He has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) since 2018 and has served as its principal cellist since 2021. In 2022, he was invited to play at the Junior Bach Festival and CASMEC All-State High School Symphony Orchestra, and also served as the principal cellist of NYO2 2022. He was also a member of the Apollo String Trio, with whom he won the US International Music Competition in 2021. Most recently, he was awarded the Grand Prize in the ENKOR International Music Competition, and also received recognition from the OPUS Music Competition and the Burlingame Music Club. Daniel also serves as co-president in Sky Ensemble, bringing music to senior living communities, and in Bravo Strings, where he teaches economically disadvantaged students about classical music. Aside from music, Daniel enjoys hiking and creative writing.

Huisun Hong, 16, is a sophomore attending Amador Valley High School. He started playing cello at 8 and is studying with Eric Sung in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-college Division. He has also been participating in the Young Chamber Musicians program since 2022. Huisun has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra since 2021 and placed as the runner-up in their concerto competition in 2022 with Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. As a 2021 Palo Alto Concerto Movement Competition winner, he made his solo debut with the Palo Alto Philharmonic in 2022. Recently, Huisun won first place in the 2023 KAMSA competition. In the summer of 2022, he attended Bowdoin’s International Music Festival to study under professor Steven Doane and participated in NYO2. This summer, he will be attending the Encore Chamber Music program and he will join NYO-USA for its North American tour.

Andrew Yin, 11, began studying piano performance at the age of 5 and currently studies with Hans Boepple. He is a 5th grader at Valley Christian School in San Jose, USA. Andrew was the Gold Medalist in the Piano Star International Piano Competition 2022, Grand Prix in the XIII Chopin International Piano Competition Hartford 2022, and Finalist in the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition 2022. He was First Prize winner in the Chicago International Music Competition 2021, KAMSA Piano Competition 2021, and Spotlight National Youth Music Competition 2021; Second Prize winner in the CAPMT Honors and Cotemporary Competition 2022, 2021 Spotlight International Piano Competition, and ENKOR International Music Competition 2021; Honorable Mention in the 2021 MTAC State Concerto Solo Competition, and selected for the Junior Bach Festival 2022. Besides piano, Andrew enjoys clarinet, reading, math, chess, and swimming. Andrew is also an impact soccer player in the LFC academy team in Los Gatos.

Melissa Zhao is a 4th grader at Harker School at San Jose. She began learning and playing piano at the age of 4½ years old, and currently studies with Ms. Lena Grozman. Melissa has received numerous piano awards and prizes in last 3 years, including First Place in the CAPMT Honors Competitions, Second Place in the CAPMT concerto Competition, Second Place in the KAMSA competition, Second Place in the US International Open Music Concerto Competition, the Bronze Award in the Artcial piano competition, Third Place in the Young Artist Award of the US International Music Competition, Second Place in the US New Star Music Competition, and Second Place in the showcase solo US International Open Music Competition. Besides playing piano, Melissa loves swimming, reading, dancing, hiking, and traveling with family and friends.

Avery Armstrong studies with Annamarie McCarthy at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-college Division where she’s been a student since age 6. She has participated in numerous international competitions and recitals, including First or Grand Prize wins at the KAMSA Competition, Chicago International Music Competition, USIMC, International New Star Piano Competition, Prodigy International Music Competition, New York Laureate International Music Competition, New York International Young Musician Competition, New York International Classical Music Competition, Elite International Music Competition, Crescendo International Music Competition, American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition, and more. Avery loves performing - in April 2022 she gave two solo recitals in Carnegie Hall and is scheduled to return in April 2023. Besides playing piano, Avery enjoys playing table tennis, swimming, creative writing, reading, coding, and learning about science – especially biology and chemistry!

Hiroshi is a 5th grader at Durham Elementary school in Fremont. He started learning piano when he was 3 years old. He won the Outstanding Gold Medalist Award in the USOMC, 2018-2022. In 2022, Hiroshi won First Place in the Kamsa Music Competition, CAPMT Honors Competition, Contemporary Music Competition, Concerto Competition, and USOMC Intermediate Showcase Piano Duet and Open Duet Classical categories; Second Place in the USOMC Showcase Piano Solo and Showcase Piano Concerto categories; 3rd place in the Sound Expressivo Music Competition; and  Grand Finalist in the Piano Star Competition. During the summer 2022, he competed in the All Japan Piano Competition in Toyohashi, receiving the top score in the Elementary School division, was awarded a Silver Prize in the Artcial San Francisco Piano Competition, and won First Place in the Chambana Music competition in Illinois. When he has free time, he enjoys playing video games, skateboarding and biking. He speaks Spanish and Japanese fluently.

Katelyn Deng, age 13, is an 8th grader from Fremont, California. She started studying the piano at the age of 4 and has been studying with Mrs. Kai Chi Zhu for seven years. In 2022, Katelyn was awarded First Place in the United States Open Music Competition for the Junior Concerto Category, and First Place in the Junior Solo Showcase Category. She was also awarded the Runner-Up prize in the 2022 Young Artist Competition by Fremont Symphony. Recently, Katelyn won the First Place award in the United States Open Music Competition for the Intermediate Solo Showcase Category in 2023. She also won First Prize in the 2023 KAMSA Piano Competition and First Place in the 2023 East Bay Music Foundation Piano Competition. Additionally, she has participated in the Junior Bach Festival for three consecutive years. Besides music, Katelyn also enjoys reading and watching movies and documentaries about the arts and history.

Meining Wu, 13, an 8th grader from San Jose, started her first piano lesson at 6 and is currently studying with Professor Hans Boepple. Meining has won top prizes in prestigious competitions including Winner of the 2023 Marylin Mindell Piano Competition and “Absolute” First Prize in the Young Verona International Piano Competition in both 2022 and 2021. In 2022, she won First Place in the CAPMT Honors District Competition; Second Places in the Artcial Professional Category, Pacific Stars Professional, and 16th Annual LISMA Competitions; and Finalist in the Weatherford College International and Seattle International Piano Competitions. Other awards she has received include Grand Prize in the Rising Star category of the Chicago International Competition; First Places in the Windsor International Competition, Concerto category of the Chopin Avenue Competition, KAMSA Competition, and USOMC with "Young Artist Award”; Second Places in the Bellagrande, ENKOR, and Harmonium Online Plus Competitions, Finalist in the 2020 Pacific Musical Competition, and Honorable Mention the in Steinway Virtual Piano Competition. Meining has also participated in the Vivace International Music Festival and San Jose International Piano Festival.

Bridget Hoang is an 8th grader at Chaboya Middle school in San Jose, California. She began playing piano at age 5 and studied with Saida Kafarova in Austin, Texas for 5 years and currently studies with Olya Katsman. She was a scholarship recipient and participant of the 12th Texas State International Piano Festival and had master classes with Michelle Cann, Joseph Rackers, Christopher Gusman, Jason Kwak and Peter Mack. She has also been invited to perform in the 2022 and 2023 Junior Bach Festival concerts. Among her awards were Junior Division winner of the 2023 Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, Honorable Mention at the 2023 KAMSA competition, First Place at the 2022 Sturm-Page Piano competition, Honorable Mention at CAPMT Honors competitions, First Place at the 2019 Texas State Young Artist Piano Competition, and the 2019 Steinway Competition in central Texas. Besides music, Bridget enjoys writing and is the literature club president as well as the yearbook Chief Copy Editor at her school.

12-year-old Peter Parra is a 7th grader from Mountain View, CA. He studies with Prof. Erna Gulabyan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College. Peter is one of the twelve Young Scholars of the Lang Lang International Music Foundadtion (LLIMF). Peter started his piano journey at four and was humbled to win many top prizes. His recent achievements include First Place in the State Final of the 2023 CAPMT Honors Competition, First Place and Best Chopin in the 2023 Elevato Piano Competition, First place in the 2022 USOMC Showcase Concerto Competition, Second Place in the 2022 ENKOR International, and Junior-Division Winner in the 2022 Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition. In 2022, Peter was invited to perform in Segerstrom Center, CA and Cipriani-25, NYC, as a LLIMF-Young-Scholar. Peter has been recognized for his music sensitivity and unique energy in his piano performance. Besides music, Peter is a competitive ballroom-dancer (US national finalist) and a math-olympiad winner.

Andrew Gu started taking piano lessons with his mother, Helen Jung, at the age of 6. He has been under the tutelage of Alexander Korsantia at NEC since 2018. Over the years he has won numerous accolades. Some of his notable wins include First Prize at the 61st Grotrian-Steinweg International Piano Competition, First Prize at the 2017 Rosalyn Tureck International Piano Competition, Grand Prix at the 2019 Chopin International Piano Competition Hartford, and Third Prize and Best Solo Prize in the 2021 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. In 2022, he was awarded Third Prize in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition and the Salzburg Music Festival Competition. Andrew made his orchestra debut at the young age of 8, performing Haydn's Keyboard Concerto in D Major. He has also been featured in the NPR From The Top Show. When he's not playing the piano, Andrew enjoys coding reading, gourmet food, and good humor.

Riko Ando is a 9th grader at Branham High School in San Jose, California. Born in Japan, she moved to the United States with her family in 2019. She has been playing the piano since the age of 5. Riko is currently studying piano performance with Hang Li at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-College Division. Before moving to the United States, she studied under Eiko Nagano in Japan. Riko has won awards in numerous competitions including Grand Prize in the ENKOR International Competition (2022), First Prize in the Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Junior Division (2022), First Prize in the United States Open Music Competition Junior Showcase category, Second Prize in the Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Annual Competition 14-17 age group (2021), First Prize in the Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC) Piano Concerto Solo Competition 13-15 age group (2020), and Second Prize in the 72nd All Japan Student Music Concours in the Kitakyushu primary school category (2018). Apart from solo performance, Riko is also an avid chamber musician. During the summer of 2022, she participated in the Koret Young Performers Concerts at Music@Menlo. In 2020, she was nominated as a student of the Piano Academy founded by Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. Riko has participated in master classes with acclaimed pianists including Dina Yoffe and Ruth Slenczynska.

Nathaniel Zhang, 16, is a student at Folsom High School in California. He started learning piano at the age of 5. He is currently studying with Dr. Sasha Starcevich and previously studied with Tien Hsieh. Nathaniel performed in Carnegie Hall at the age of eight and had his first solo recital at the age of ten. He made his orchestral debut with the Florence Conservatory Orchestra at Music Fest Perugia, Italy. He performed with the Philharmonia Northwest in May 2022, and will perform with the Seattle Symphony and Auburn Symphony in the 2022-2023 season. Nathaniel has won accolades at many piano competitions. He is a finalist in the 2023 National YoungArts Competition. He was the First Place and Chopin Award winner of the 2018-2019 National MTNA Junior Performance Competition. He was also the First Place winner of the 2019 Waring International Junior Solo Competition and Junior Concerto Competition.

Ryan Wang currently studies with Professor Hans Boepple. Ryan has received numerous awards, including semifinalist in the 2021 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, winner of the 2022-2023 Senior MTNA State and Southwest Division piano performance competitions, prize winner in the 2022 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, two-time National YoungArts winner, winner of the 2020-2021 Junior MTNA State and Southwest Division piano performance competitions, First Place in the Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition, First Place in the Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition, First Place in the KAMSA competition, winner of the Marilyn Mindell competition, First Place in the San Francisco Chopin competition, Second Place in the Henry and Carol Zeiter Piano Competition, First Alternate in the MTAC piano solo competition and concerto competition, Second Place in the United States International Music Competition, and Third Place in the San Jose International Piano Competition. Ryan performed as a soloist with the Golden State Youth Orchestra in 2018 and the Palo Alto Philharmonic in 2019.

Oliver Corro is a 10th grader at Irvington High School in Fremont CA. He started learning piano with his mother when he was 3 years old and he recently started working with teacher John McCarthy. Oliver was the First Place winner of the 2023 USOMC Treasury of Chopin Etude category and was also awarded Outstanding Gold Medalist. In 2022, he won First Place in the USOMC Solo Piano Treasury of Romantic Composers category and Showcase Piano Duet/Trio category, Runan International Piano Competition, Chambana Music Competition, US New Star Piano Competition, Silicon Valley Music Competition, and Gavilan College Junior/Senior Piano Competition. In Summer 2022, he won the Bronze Award in the Artcial San Francisco Piano Competition, and participated master classes with Professors Mann, Nagai, and Chen. Besides solo piano, he plays in a piano quartet and performs in local concerts and events. He speaks Japanese and Spanish fluently. He plays guitar and violin in addition to piano.

Katrina Franco, soprano, is a senior at San Francisco University High School. She currently studies classical voice with Christine Abraham in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division. Katrina was recently featured in Show 422 on NPR’s From The Top, and she has won awards in regional, national, and international voice competitions, most recently the National YoungArts Competition, King's Peak International Music Competition, the Fanny Mendelssohn International Competition, and the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition. In addition to classical voice, Katrina also partakes in musical theater productions in and outside of school as both an actress and director. She studied acting and musical theater with the American Conservatory Theater’s Young Conservatory Program, performing in their Middle and High School Cabaret Ensembles and appearing in mainstage productions. Outside of singing and performing, Katrina enjoys baking and creative writing.

Raghav Ramgopal (baritone), 16, hails from Los Altos Hills, California and attends Pinewood School. He is a vocal student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College where he studies with Eun-Mee Ko, and he has also attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Vocal Program. Among his musical accomplishments, Raghav placed second in the American Protégé International Vocal Competition, making his solo debut at Carnegie Hall. He will be playing Don Curzio in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” in the summer of 2023 at the International Lyric Academy in partnership with Opera Carolina as one of few high schoolers with a titled/solo role. Outside of music, Raghav enjoys volunteering on political campaigns, working for his town government, being active in his school community through various clubs, bike rides, and spending time with family and friends.

Isabel Yang, mezzo-soprano, is a freshman at Northwestern University studying voice & opera with Professor Pamela Hinchman. She grew up in San Francisco playing the violin and singing in the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Yang is a recent graduate of Lowell high school, where she played violin in advanced orchestra and took voice private lessons with Justin Montigne. She has placed as a semifinalist in the Classical Singer Competition three times, as well as regional finalist in the Schmidt Vocal Arts competition twice. In 2021, she won Second Place in the California NATS regional competition. Notable performances include her Northwestern opera debut in Die Zauberflöte where she sang Third Spirit.

Nikka Gershman has been described as “without question one of the finest and most dedicated young flute soloists and composers” by Mike Green, the President of the Grammy Foundation. In April 2023, Nikka will be graduating the Colburn Music Academy as a Thibaudet Scholar in the studio of Jim Walker. The legendary Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner has taken Nikka under his mentorship. As a performer, Nikka represents Haynes Flutes as their youngest-ever Young Artist. The International Alliance for Women in Music has selected Nikka’s original composition The Tears of Winter for the Libby Larsen Prize in the 41st annual Search for New Music Competition. Her composition Respiro was premiered by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and featured on NPR’s From the Top. As the only flutist selected internationally by the Classicalia Global PBS Televised Competition, Nikka will perform as a soloist with the Győr Philharmonic in the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Kiran Thole, age 13, is a composer and violinist who currently lives in Davis, California. He currently studies composition with Davide Verrota and violin with Victor Romasevich. He has played violin for 6 years and has been composing for a year. He enjoys listening to his favorite composers, Dmitri Shostakovich and Karol Szymanowski. He enjoys listening to music, playing Hearts of Iron IV, and reading about history.

Mehana Ellis is an 18-year-old UC Berkeley sophomore studying piano under the tutelage of Betty Woo at UC Berkeley, and previously studied with Annamarie McCarthy at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Mehana was named a Ross McKee Young Artist in the 25th Annual Ross McKee Piano Competition (performance at SFCM's Barbro Osher Recital Hall), awarded the Grand Prize in the 2nd Elena Leonova International Young Pianists Competition of the New York Piano Society (performance in 2023 at 92nd Street Y), First Prize in the Franz Schubert Conservatory of Vienna’s International Music Competition and numerous others, and participated in the Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s Young Pianists program during Summer 2022. Other events in 2022 included performing in Carnegie Hall, and invitations to numerous venues in Canada and Poland, such as Kurozwęki Palace. Mehana has also composed a Symphonic Suite, Piano Trio, String Quartet, and seven Préludes for solo piano.