Today we hear from cellist Jeffery Tong of Lisle. He’s joined by pianist Liang-yu Wang in music of Saint-Saëns, Beethoven, Bach, Perkinson, and Nadia Boulanger.

Jeffery Tong is a cello student of Tanya Carey, on the artistic faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. He was named a 2024 Classical Music Award Winner by the National YoungArts Foundation and was selected to perform for the Young Steinway concert series. He was invited to perform in Carnegie Hall as the first-place winner of the 2023 American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition. He has also won awards at the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, London Grand Prize Virtuoso International Competition, Society of American Musicians, DuPage Symphony Orchestra Young Artists, Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Dr. Robert Stanger Young Artists Competition, and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition.

He has been a part of Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras for three years, serving as Principal Cello of the Philharmonic Orchestra and a selected member of the Symphony Orchestra and Classical Orchestral Repertory Ensemble (CORE). He has won awards in CYSO’s concerto competitions for both the Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras.

Jeffery is a sophomore at Naperville North High School. Outside of music he enjoys cooking, skiing, collecting souvenirs, and playing card games. He plays a 1980 Gunther Reuter cello generously loaned from Bein & Fushi.

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This morning we hear from all three finalists in the 2024 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, including a historic first appearance by a steelpan soloist. Chloe Nam, Elyse Schlesinger and winner Jaden Teague-Núñez are joined by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and conductor Kyle Dickson.

Finalist: Chloe Nam, 15, flute

Chloe Nam is a sophomore at Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago. Under the expert guidance of Hideko Amano, Chloe developed a deep passion for flute performance. Since eighth grade, she has been a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, where she currently plays flute and piccolo in the flagship top orchestra. Before then, she studied at Merit School of Music for three years.

She has been recognized in various music competitions such as the Chicago Flute Club Student Competition, DePaul National Concerto Festival, Society of American Musicians Competition, CYSO Concert Orchestra Concerto Competition and Walgreens Concerto Competition. Chloe also participated in the Illinois Music Education Conference All-State Band in 2023. Chloe has had the privilege of performing in masterclasses or had lessons with Jennifer Gunn, Nancy Stagnitta and Johanthan Keeble.

Onstage at Symphony Center (L-R): Robbie Ellis, Fernando Meza, Kyle Dickson, Chloe Nam, Jaden Teague-Núñez, Elyse Schlesinger, William Ward, Margaret Tung, Daniel Gilbert. (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

First Alternate: Elyse Schlesinger, 16, horn

Elyse Schlesinger started horn in fifth grade and developed a lasting passion for music and the collaborative creativity of ensembles. She is a member of the top band, chorus and orchestra at William Fremd High School in Palatine, and she served as Principal Horn of the Barrington Youth Symphony.

She has attended many music camps and festivals, including the ILMEA All-State Honors Band and All-State Honors Orchestra. She has been Co-Principal Horn of Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras’ flagship orchestra since 2022, as well as a member of CYSO’s top woodwind quintet, Windy City Winds, and is in the Ambassadors Program performing around the Chicagoland community.

Elyse began her horn lessons with Melody Velleuer, and has worked with Katelyn Halbert, Brent Shires, and Momo Hasselbring Seko. She currently studies with CSO horn David Griffin and Kate Warren.

Winner: Jaden Teague-Núñez, 16, steelpan

Jaden Teague-Núñez was born in Panama City, Panama. He moved to the USA in 2011 and began studying steelpan and piano (classical and jazz) at age 8 and 10, respectively. He attends DeKalb High School where he serves as the drummer for the Jazz Ensemble and Steelband and is a member of the Marching Band.

Among his growing list of accomplishments, Jaden has been a guest steelpan soloist with the Humboldt State University Steelband in Arcata, California, and performed with the Northern Illinois University Steelband. He has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, and on several occasions has appeared at the ILMEA Conference.

Jaden studies steelpan with his father, Liam Teague; piano with Austyn Menk; and drum set with Joshua Bedeau. As the winner of the 2024 Crain-Maling Foundation Young Artists Competition, he has been offered a live solo recital on Introductions at a later date.

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We welcome a return guest, pianist and composer Zarin Mehta. In addition to music of Bach, Beethoven, and Lyapunov, Zarin presents a composition and a transcription of his own, plus the North American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s Amalgam.

Zarin Mehta, 16, has burst onto the classical music scene as a concert pianist and composer, winning first prize in Senior Piano and twice winning second prize in Composition with the Music Teachers National Association Competitions. He has also claimed prizes in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the International Young Artist Concerto Competition (3 times), the Chicago National Chamber Music Competition, the Rembrandt Young Artist Chamber Competition, YoungArts (twice), and more.

In 2023, he made his Ravinia Festival debut with a recital that included his original composition Glimpses. Zarin has also performed at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Millennium Park for the Grant Park Music Festival, the Roy O. Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and with the Todi Music Masters Festival Ensemble in Italy. To date he has gained nearly 25,000 subscribers and almost 650,000 views on his YouTube channel @ZarinMehta-Pianist-007.

Zarin made his concerto debut at the age of 11 with the Chicago Arts Orchestra and conductor Vladimir Kulenovic. This has been followed by a half dozen further concerto performances, including with the SEEN Worldwide Orchestra (three times) and the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago. He has also collaborated with the Latika Roy Foundation, creating virtual musical content for students with disabilities and fundraised for the Oscar-nominated documentary To Kill a Tiger.

He has been studying piano for 12 years at New Music School in Chicago where his teachers include Winston Choi, Jeffrey Panko, and Sean Bennett. Zarin also studies composition with Matthew Hagle of the Music Institute of Chicago. He has also studied piano with Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Steven Osborne, Emanuel Ax, Jorge Federico Osorio, Mary Sauer, Boris Slutsky, and Stephen Hough; as well as chamber music with Desirée Ruhstrat and David Cunliffe. In a few months, he is set to attend the 2024 Juilliard Summer Piano Program.

Zarin is in 11th grade at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, where he is a Senate Head in the Francis Parker Upper School. Outside music, he plays varsity ice hockey and chess. He previously gave an Introductions piano recital in November 2020 as a 13-year-old. He has also been featured as a concerto competition finalist in April 2020, in March 2021, and in April 2022. His composition Glimpses was broadcast in full in May 2023.

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Chicago-raised pianist Kené Obiaya is an alum of the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute and is now a high school senior at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He presents music of Chopin, Bach, Still and Brahms.

Kené Obiaya is 17 years old and began taking piano lessons at age 3. Kené currently attends Interlochen Arts Academy where he studies piano with Dr. Kara Huber. He previously attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts, and previously studied piano with Laura Fenster and Bethany Stefanut. In the summer of 2023, Kené attended Indiana University Piano Academy where he was selected for the honors recital and won second place in the duet competition. In the past he has attended Interlochen Arts Camp and the Curtis Institute’s Young Artists Summer Program (YASP). He has participated in masterclasses with Sara Davis Buechner, Claire Huangci, Robert Shannon, Michael Coonrod, Amy Yang, Lara Driscoll and the Euclid Quartet. Kené is also passionate about the viola which he studies with Renee Skerik.

He is a six time Gold Medalist at the CAMTA Sonata Festival and a top prize winner at the Roberta Savler contest where he last placed 2nd. In June 2023 he won 3rd prize in the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition. He has received accolades in other piano competitions that include the Illinois Federation of Music Clubs (IFMC) state concerto and piano solo; Society of American Musicians; and Music Festival in Honor of Confucius. Kené has been invited to perform at the Chicago and American Suzuki Institute’s Honors recitals each of the last seven years, as well as to the Illinois Federation of Music Club Piano Honors recital each of the five years he contested. He has also performed on WBEZ’s The Morning Shift with Tony Sarabia and been featured on the ABC7 news.

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Live on Introductions today is pianist Clara Zhang, a student of Matthew Hagle. She plays a recital of Bach, Chopin, Ravel, Haydn, Walker, Rachmaninoff, and Bowen.

Clara Zhang, 16, is a Merit Scholar at the Music Institute of Chicago. She has won prizes and honors at the Illinois State Music Teachers Association Competition, the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, the Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition, the Piano Star International Piano Competition, the London Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, and the Clara Schumann International Piano Competition. As a winner of the Chicago Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition, Clara has performed as a soloist with the Northeastern Illinois University Symphony Orchestra.

In her spare time, Clara runs her Music Ambassadors program with her musician friends, bringing classical music concerts to the doorsteps of senior communities. She regularly performs at the Arbor Terrace in Highland Park, the Avidor in Glenview, the Dickinson Hall in Lake Forest, the Mather Place in Wilmette, and the Sedgebrook in Lincolnshire.

Clara is a junior at Highland Park High School and she is the president of the school’s World Music Club. Outside music, Clara also enjoys ice skating, baking, zip lining and snorkeling. Her favorite performer is pianist Martha Argerich.

Her elder brother Harry Zhang gave a live piano recital on Introductions in September 2021.

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This week, the latest performance from the CYSO Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall in downtown Chicago. Allen Tinkham conducts the Chicago premiere of a new Augusta Read Thomas piece, followed by works of Claude Debussy and Gustav Mahler.

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Following his win in the 2022 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artist Competition, Vernon Hills pianist Noah Kim returns to Introductions for a second solo recital playing Bach, Mozart, Schumann and Kapustin.

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We’re featuring twin sisters on Introductions today: Isabel and Anna Edgcomb are 18 and they play flute and oboe respectively. They both hail from Long Grove, are seniors at Adlai E. Stevenson High School, and attend Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. They’re joined by pianist Lyudmila Lakisova in music of Telemann, Kalliwoda, Liebermann, Poulenc, Taffanel and Cimarosa.

Isabel Edgcomb studies flute with Hideko Amano and is in the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, where she has performed many major symphonies at Symphony Center in Chicago. Isabel is the 2023 Principal Flute for the ILMEA District 7 Orchestra as well as a 2024 All-State orchestra selectee. She won third place at the 2023 Chicago Flute Club Competition and second place in the Intermediate Flute Division of the 2022 Society of American Musicians Competition. She was a finalist for the Fox River Grove Concerto Competition for two concertos. She has also soloed for the Stevenson High School Patriot Orchestra as the winner of the Senior Solo Competition. Isabel has taken master classes or had lessons with Nancy Stagnitta and Jonathan Keeble.

Anna Edgcomb, a student of Marisa LeFevre, has been playing oboe for seven years and in the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Symphony Orchestra for three. She was Principal Oboe of the ILMEA District 7 Band in 2021 and 2022, and of the 2023 District 7 Orchestra in 2023. In the Illinois All-State Honors Band, she was third chair in 2022 and Principal Oboe in 2023; and she has been selected for the 2024 Illinois All-State Orchestra. In 2021, she was winner of the Walgreens National Concerto Competition playing Pasculli’s Concerto on themes from Donizetti’s La Favorita, and she won the 2023 Charleston International Music Competition playing Kalliwoda’s Oboe Concertino in F.

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Live on Introductions this morning is cellist Simon Updegraff from the Music Institute of Chicago Academy. He begins on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month with Elgar’s Cello Concerto, followed by works of Bach and Bloch; a cello suite of Chad “Sir Wick” Hughes, and Monti’s Csárdás. Sung Hoon Mo plays piano.

Simon Updegraff, 16, is a Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, a program for advanced pre-college musicians. He began Suzuki cello lessons at age four and studies with Avi Friedlander.

Simon is a winner of the Chicago Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition and has soloed with the Northeastern Illinois University Orchestra. He is a first-place winner of the Primary, Junior, and Intermediate cello division competitions of the Society of American Musicians. He received honorable mention in the 2022 Walgreens National Concerto Competition and was selected for the 2023 Illinois Music Education Association all-state honors orchestra. He has performed in the Young Steinway Concert series at the Skokie Public Library and played twice as assistant principal in the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas at the Suzuki Association of the Americas Biennial Conference. Simon has taken master classes with Natasha Brofsky, Richard Aaron, Melissa Kraut, and Benjamin Lash.

Simon is a junior at New Trier High School where he is the co-captain of the Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team and founded the school’s Classical Music Club. He is a member of the New Trier Symphony Orchestra and performed with them at Lincoln Center in New York City.

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Today we feature two chamber groups from Midwest Young Artists Conservatory – one piano trio, and one string quartet.

The violinists of these groups have appeared previously on Introductions:
– Ruth Kim played in the Ardente String Quartet in August 2020 and in August 2021;
– John Lee gave a live solo recital in May 2023 and appeared previously in other chamber groups;
– Vincenzo Zuppardo previously appeared with Quartet Feroce in August 2021.

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