Leeds International Piano Festival with Lang Lang Young Scholars 2019

Aliya Alsafa, is a pianist from Chicago, Illinois. She currently attends the Juilliard Pre-College as a student of Prof. Matti Raekallio. Recently, Aliya was named a Steinway Young Artist.

Last summer, through the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, she performed for the Andermatt Swiss Alps Classics Festival. She has also participated in the Gilmore Rising Star Series and the Leeds International Music Festival in the United Kingdom. In 2018, Aliya played in the Holland Music Sessions in Den Hoorn, Netherlands. Aliya attends Special Music High School in Manhattan. Her other interests include dance, composition, computer science, and badminton.

“I am very thankful to have been selected as a Lang Lang Young Scholar! Music is a powerful gift that promotes the exchange of new ideas and perspectives. As a pianist, I hope to put more warmth in the hearts of others through music. The Lang Lang Young Scholars Program allows me to further my dream by introducing this inspiring form of communication throughout the world. I’m so excited to be part of an international music community. Under the mentorship of Lang Lang, as well as friendships with my fellow young scholars, I look forward to making a positive difference through classical music.”

Through recent years, Aliya has been the recipient of special honors and awards. She won First Prize in numerous piano competitions including the Emilio Del Rosario Concerto Competition, Sejong Music Competition, Chopin Youth Piano Competition, and Walgreens National Concerto Early Music Division. Some of her current recognitions include, “Best Chopin Etude” at the 2017 Seattle International Piano Competition; she won First Prize in state and regional contests and Second Prize nationally in MTNA for composition; and, as MostArts youngest competitor, Aliya played with the festival orchestra at Miller Theater and received the Audience Favorite award.

Aliya has been praised for her artistry and musical sensitivity. She has performed in several prestigious concert venues throughout the country: Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Ravinia Bennett Gordon Hall, Harris Theater, Merkin, and Benaroya Hall. Aliya also played for Orchestra Hall at Chicago’s Symphony Center for the “Keys to the City” festival hosted by Emanuel Ax.

In 2013, Aliya was one of twelve pianists worldwide, selected for the inaugural Allianz Junior Music Camp through the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. She played in a masterclass as well as outreach concerts for schools in Munich, Germany.

At a young age, Aliya discovered her passion for music and began lessons at age four. She currently studies piano performance at the Juilliard Pre-College as a student of Prof. Matti Raekallio. Her other teachers and mentors, current or former, include Ms. Sueanne Metz, pianist and president of 88Keys to Cure (a NFP); Mary Sauer, Principal Pianist of Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Director of New Music School; as well as Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem, Piano-Duo in residence at Music Institute of Chicago.

Aliya enjoys community service and has previously performed at fundraising events, retirement homes, and school outreach. She is a Davidson Young Scholar since 2010. Aliya was a 2nd place winner in the Northwestern University Midwest Academic Talent Search on the ACT (a competition with 12,000 students grades 3-9.) She currently attends Whitney Young. Among her other interests are dance, drawing, and composition.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ_uKFdhXCBDLWdwdJlc8WA

Jasper Heymann is a pianist from New York City, who began his piano studies at the age of five. Jasper has been a laureate in more than fifteen domestic and international piano competitions, with more than twenty performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

“Thank you so much Lang Lang International Music Foundation for welcoming me to the Young Scholar’s Program, Class of 2018-20. It’s an honor and a privilege to be selected to participate in this wonderful foundation, to have the opportunity to study with Lang Lang and to be able to collaborate with other Young Scholars. Music has the power to unite people, while allowing one to express feelings and emotions in a way that few other forms of communication can. This opportunity will allow me to share my passion for classical music performance with a wider audience and to continue to grow as a musician. I can’t wait!”

New York Concert Review lauded Jasper’s “astounding lyricism,” “pianism that would be the envy of anyone two, three, even four times his age,” and “deep emotional bond with the music” in its review of his benefit concert for MusiCorps, a music rehabilitation program for wounded soldiers. (http://nyconcertreview.com/reviews/pianist-jasper-heymann-in-review/).

Recently chosen as a finalist for National Public Radio’s “From the Top” program, Jasper was also selected to study with Dina Yoffe at the Musical Summer Málaga 2017 International Festival. Among his other accomplishments are top prizes in AADGT’s International Young Gifted Musician’s Competition, American Protégé International Piano Competition, Enkor International Music Competition, American Fine Arts Festival, Bradshaw & Buono International Competition, and Golden Key Music Festival; participation in the Schlern Music Festival, scholarships to the Vianden International Music Festival in Luxembourg and the Alexander & Buono festival in New York; masterclasses with Dina Yoffe, Mikhail Voskresensky and Eduardo Delgado; and, performances with chamber ensembles in Europe and the United States.

Jasper studies piano with Elena Rossman. His other interests are aeronautical and sound engineering, percussion, fencing, skiing and photography. Jasper attends Horace Mann School in New York.

Shuheng Zhang, a proud Lang Lang International Foundation Young Scholar, has been passionate about music ever since he started piano lessons at almost 9 years old.

He has won top prizes in many competitions such as Thousand Islands International Chopin Competition, David Dubois Piano Competition, MTNA Michigan Competition, MMTA SAT Solo and Concerto Competitions, Albion College International Piano Festival, to name a few. A frequent participant inprestigious piano festivals, Shuheng was selected to attend Lang Lang International Foundation 2016 Allianz Junior Music Camp held in Poland, 2017 Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival at Salt Lake City, and 2017 Piano Summer at SUNY New Paltz with full scholarship. He was also the youngest finalists of the 2016 MostArts Festival Piano Competition where he performed as a soloist with the MostArts Festival Orchestra. Shuheng has performed in masterclasses given by renowned pianists such as Dag Achatz, Alan Chow, Paulina Dokovska, Sean Duggan, Douglas Humphreys, Lang Lang, Panayis Lyras, John O’Conor, Robert Shannon, Sasha Starcevich and Nelita True, among others , and been praised for his sensitivity, interpretation and musicianship. Shuheng is very grateful for all the individuals and organizations who have been involved in his development in music, especially, his current teacher Logan Skelton, former teacher Mary Siciliano, Tian Tian,with whom Shuheng takes lessons regularly, and The Tuesday Musicale of Detroit.

“I am incredibly excited and honor to join the Lang Lang International Music Foundation family as a young scholar. I attended 2016 Allianz Junior Music Camp, which was such an impactful and enjoyable experience for me. Through the camp, I got to know more about the foundation, its people and its mission. So I am really looking forward to join the Lang Lang Young Scholars Program. I am looking most forward to learning more about music through the mentorship of Lang Lang and other great musicians, meeting other young scholars, and sharing my craft of performing to the public, especially, the next generation. I am always excited to learn about music, whether it be how music is performed, or how it is made, or just simply why music sounds the way it does; it’s all very fascinating and meaningful to me. I also am looking forward to meeting other Young Scholars because I always love being with people who share the same passion of music as I do, which always inspires me to become a better musician. Finally, I deeply enjoy performing music for others. Even though the cliché of “music is the universal language” has been overused almost to the point of meaninglessness, I believe there are still many truths that lie behind the statement. Music is something that everyone can relate with and enjoy, no matter how negative their view on all other subjects of the world are, as I have yet to meet a single person who claims that they do not enjoy music of any sort. Because of this, I want to spread music as a way for all people to relate with each other, to reconcile their differences, and to bring some form of common understanding between all people, and I believe that the Lang Lang Young Scholars Program, with its Keys of Inspiration™ and Play It Forward.™, will be a huge step forth in completing that vision.”

Shuheng loves sharing his passion for music with the community; he has been frequently giving outreach performances at schools and senior living houses. A well-rounded student, Shuheng excels in all school academic subjects and is serving in the board of his school’s student government.

Aside from piano, Shuheng enjoys playing hockey, jogging, and reading.

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShuhengZhang