Associate Artistic Advisors

Classical pianist Aliya Alsafa has been praised for her artistry and musical sensitivity. A Young Steinway Artist and a YoungArts Winner, she first drew international attention as a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. She has since performed across the
United States and Europe and earned top prizes in local, national, and international competitions.

Aliya has appeared on many distinguished stages, among them Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Ravinia’s Bennett-Gordon Hall, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, Merkin Hall, the Harris Theater, Benaroya Hall, Steinway Hall, Paul Hall, and Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall. She was the youngest pianist to perform at Orchestra Hall in Chicago’s Symphony Center, for the “Keys to the City” festival hosted by Emanuel Ax, and she served for a year as an orchestral pianist with the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. As a Lang Lang Foundation Young Scholar, Aliya has performed at leading international festivals, including the Andermatt Swiss Alps Classics in Switzerland, the Aspen Music Festival, the Gilmore Rising Star Series and Gilmore Keyboard Festival, and the Leeds International Piano Festival in Leeds and London. Her involvement with the foundation began in 2013, when she was one of only twelve pianists worldwide chosen for the inaugural Allianz Junior Music Camp in Munich. She was later named a Young Scholar for the 2018–2020 term and remains an alumna of the program. Her ties to the foundation have continued into recent seasons, when she appeared as a featured artist at its Apulian Runway Experience in Puglia, Italy. Independently, she has taken part in the Holland Music Sessions in the Netherlands and, in 2025, attended the Honeywell Arts Academy as a Soundboard piano scholar. She is also an Artemisia Akademie Fellow.

Aliya’s competition record spans more than a decade. In her early years, she won First Prizes in the primary division of the Emilio Del Rosario Concerto Competition and the Walgreens National Concerto Early Music Division, and took Second Prize nationally at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) competition for composition. In high school, she won First Prize at the Chopin Youth Piano Competition and the Sejong Music Competition, and was a medalist and category winner of the “Best Chopin Etude” at the 2017 Seattle International Piano Competition. As the youngest contestant at the MostArts Festival, she received the Audience Favorite Prize, appearing as soloist with orchestra. More recently, she was a winner at the Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition and the Berkeley Piano Competition, where she received the Marliave Prize.

Aliya chose to attend Stanford University, where music has remained central to her life. There she co-founded the Stanford Piano Society and the Stanford Keyboard Studies Committee, the university’s first piano-focused student organizations, giving fellow pianists a stronger voice within the piano department. In 2026 she was awarded the Music Department’s Blew-Culley-LaFollette Prize for piano performance, and that spring she presented an all-Ravel senior recital in Campbell Recital Hall. She has also served as orchestral pianist for the Stanford Philharmonia.

Aliya currently studies with Sandra Wright Shen, having previously worked with Louise Costigan-Kerns. At the Juilliard Pre-College, she first studied with Matti Raekallio before joining the studio of Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone. Her early teachers in Chicago included Mary Sauer, Sueanne Metz, and Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem, and she studied composition there with Matt Hagle. She has taken masterclasses with artists including Lang Lang, Mikhail Voskresensky, Michelle Cann, Jon Nakamatsu, and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Aliya recently completed a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Stanford, with a minor in music, and now continues her studies there at the graduate level. Throughout her career she has also devoted herself to community service, performing at school outreach concerts, retirement homes, and fundraising events. Her other interests include dance and composition.

Eden Chen is a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist and Scholar.

He started studying piano when he was six. Since age seven, Eden has competed and placed in many piano competitions, and has won numerous top prizes including the First Prize in the Southwestern Youth Music Festival Piano Competitions for numerous years. Among them was an orchestral debut performing Mozart’s Coronation Concerto, No.26 in D major with the Southwestern Music Festival Orchestra, after he won First Prize in the Young Pianist category when he was eleven.

“As a Young Scholar, I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to experience the signature charisma of Lang Lang and his foundation. The enthusiasm and energy they put into bringing music to the world is just inspiring, and I am sure I will learn much from their philosophy of “Playing it Forward.” Being a part of the Young Scholars program will present me with a unique opportunity to meet diverse audiences, while receiving first-hand guidance from Lang Lang in what it means to be an artist, and what it takes to build a successful career. I am confident that working with Lang Lang, the Foundation, and my fellow Young Scholars will allow me to further explore the role of the musician and music in our modern society. I look forward to the positive impact we will have on each other!”

Eden recently won the First Prize at the AVSOMC Gail Newby Concerto Competition. He was a Gold Medal winner of the 2012 AADGT International Young Musicians competition, a Grand Prize winner of the 2011 AFAF Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition, where he was also the recipient of the special prize for the Best Performance of a Work by Liszt. He also received Second Prize at the MostArts Festival 2014 Piano Competition and Second Prize at the 13thInternational Russian Music Piano Competition.

Eden was selected to perform on NPR’s From the Top radio show in 2013. Besides these awards, Eden has given four performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in the past few years, and he was also invited to perform a solo concert at the American Jewish University.

Eden is currently studying with Rufus Choi. He has attended the Colburn Academy Piano Festival and the John Perry Academy of Music Summer Festival. He has participated in master classes given by musicians such as Lang Lang, Daniel Pollack, Seymour Bernstein, Hung-Kuan Chen, Jerome Lowenthal, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and John Perry.

Eden is actively thinking about the role and value of music in society and in the individual, and how it serves to connect individuals to their communities. He believes in music as a uniquely human expression of the human condition, and is interested in innovative ways of expressing these universal sentiments. In becoming a Lang Lang Foundation Young Scholar, he hopes to continue to explore new creative possibilities that will impact his audiences.

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edenchenmusic/timeline

American pianist Maxim Lando was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times for his “brilliance and infectious exuberance.” He is hailed as “one of the most brilliant and imaginative young pianists to emerge in recent years” (Gower Festival), “a total musical being” (National Review), “a Demigod at the keys”(Frankfurter Neue Press) and “a dazzling fire-eater” (ARTS San Francisco).

Maxim first made international headlines performing together with Lang Lang, Chick Corea, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, at Carnegie Hall’s 2017 Opening Night Gala. Since then, he has performed with over 75 major orchestras around the world, including Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and St. Petersburg Symphony,

Recent and upcoming highlights of 2025/26 include a 9-city-USA tour with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra; appearances with the Arizona Musicfest Festival Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera Museum Orchestra, Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia, Belgrade Philharmonic, and the Baltimore, Buffalo, Columbus, Charleston, Anchorage, and Princeton Symphony Orchestras; recitals featuring Lowell Liebermann’s brilliant new masterpiece Frankenstein; and a recording with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna.

Awarded the 2025 Khaledi Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Classical Music from Festival Napa Valley, Maxim is also winner of the 2022 New York Franz Liszt International Competition, 2022 Vendome Grand Prize, and top prizes at both the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition and 13th International German Piano Award. Maxim is the recipient of a Gilmore Young Artist Award, and won the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions at age 16. His following recital debuts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and Kennedy Center Terrace Theater were hailed by the New York Times as concerts “You Won’t Want To Miss!” Dedicated to making classical music accessible to his own generation, Maxim has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, WQXR, Bavarian Radio, Euroradio’s Top Young Performers, Israel’s “Intermezzo with Arik”, and Russia’s TV Kultura.

Maxim’s concerts include venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Beijing National Center for Performing Arts, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Louis Vuitton Foundation and Salle Cortot in Paris, Symphony Hall in Shenzhen, Kulturpalast Dresden, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, and Chicago’s Millennium Park.A frequent Guest Artist on the music festival scene, recent appearances have included The Gilmore, Aspen, Caramoor, Moritzburg, Dresden Music Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Stars and Rising Stars Munich, Musical Olympus International Festival in Russia, Vilnius Piano Festival, Gower Festival in Wales, and Lednice-Valtice Music Festival in Czech Republic. He was invited by Lang Lang to perform for the historic opening of Steinway and Sons in Beijing.

Maxim partners frequently with violinist Daniel Hope, and is passionate about chamber music and unusual repertoire. He has collaborated with Lynn Harrell, Julian Rachlin, and the Danish String Quartet among others, and plays regularly with Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City. Together with his German friend and violinist Tassilo Probst, his album Into Madness, recorded by Bavarian Radio on Berlin Classics, was awarded a 2023 International Classical Music Award (ICMA) as best chamber music recording of the year. It also received a double nomination for Opus Klassik, and the duo was honored at the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Poland.

Maxim is a Laureate of Artemisia Foundation since 2019, an alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and studies with long-time mentor Hung- Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School.

American pianist Joshua Mhoon is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most exciting young artists in classical music today. His exceptional talent was discovered at the age of seven, and despite a comparatively late introduction to music, his passion and rapid progress quickly set him apart.

His early musical foundation was shaped in Chicago, where he studied at the Merit School of Music as an adolescent. By the age of 15, Mhoon began studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music under the renowned Dr. James Giles, Director of Musical Performance. He currently studies at The Juilliard School in New York City with internationally celebrated pianists Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Julian Martin.

Mhoon’s artistry has earned him top prizes in prestigious competitions including The DePaul National Concerto Competition, The Walgreens National Concerto Competition (Junior and Senior Divisions), and the Emilio del Rosario Concerto Competition. In 2023, he was named Silver Medalist at the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition, an award that significantly propelled his career, resulting in major engagements both in the United States and abroad for the 2025–2026 season.
In July 2025, Mhoon was selected as one of four pianists to serve as an inaugural Artist in Residence for the Piano Festival of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, held in Riyadh. This historic event, a collaboration between the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, the Saudi Ministry of Culture, and Lang Lang, featured Mhoon performing and teaching over the course of a month, highlighting his role as both a performer and educator on the world stage.

His performance career has taken him across the globe, with appearances in Japan, England, France, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Spain, and Italy, along with multiple concert tours in Germany. In the United States, he has graced the stages of many of the country’s most iconic venues, including Carnegie Hall (Stern and Weill Recital Hall), Jazz at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Alice Tully Hall, David Koch Theater, The Library of Congress, The Kimmel Center, the New World Symphony Center, the Guggenheim and Neue Galerie, and the famed Musikverein in Vienna. He has shared the stage with major international artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Anthony McGill, Emanuel Ax, Randall Goosby, and Gil Shaham, and has performed under the baton of Louis Langrée with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Michael Stern with Orchestra LUMOS, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Carlos Miguel Prieto, as well as in concerts with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Philharmonic, Midwest Young Artists Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of the United States, and the Polizeiorchester Sachsen, among others.

Mhoon’s diverse musical upbringing in Chicago deeply informs his artistic voice. Growing up surrounded by the rich cultural traditions of Black American music—including jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, and hip-hop—he brings a distinctive perspective to classical performance. His deep connection to his hometown has led to notable appearances at civic and cultural events, including performing at Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s historic inauguration at Wintrust Arena, a halftime performance at a Chicago Bulls game, and a joint event for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and China’s Vice Premier at the Harris Theater. His Chicago appearances span venues such as Navy Pier, Ganz Hall, the Studebaker Theater, Pritzker Pavilion, Pianoforte Studios, and Bennett Gordon Hall at the Ravinia Festival. He has also gained attention through broadcast media, with television appearances on The Tamron Hall Show, NBC Chicago, CBS Chicago, Red Bull TV, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and The Mozart on TV Asahi (Japan). He was also featured in an Emmy Award-winning episode of Built to Last on PBS.

Mhoon has captivated radio audiences with performances and interviews on NPR’s From the Top, New York’s WQXR, Chicago’s WFMT, WBEZ, and WVON’s Cliff Kelley Show, engaging listeners from diverse backgrounds and helping to bridge communities through music. In addition to his classical training, Mhoon has studied jazz and spontaneous composition with luminaries such as the late Willie Pickens, Steve Million, and Bobby Irving III (Miles Davis’s former music director). He continues to benefit from the mentorship of internationally respected artists, including Lang Lang and Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic. The 2026 season also marks the release of Mhoon’s first venture into film scoring as the composer of the film A Wood’s Tale.

Outside of music, Mhoon enjoys photography, yoga, and studying the financial markets—but above all, his greatest passion remains music. As he stated in a 2016 interview with WTTW, “I definitely want to make music my life.” Today, it is clear that Joshua Mhoon is doing just that.

He is proud to be a Young Steinway Artist and remains committed to expanding the reach of classical music to new and more inclusive audiences around the world.

Yau Nam Ng was born in Shanghai in 2007 and began learning piano at the age of four. At the age of seven, he began studying under Professor William Chen, Head of piano department at The Music Middle School affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Associate of Royal Academy of Music.

In 2018, Yau Nam Ng was admitted to The Primary Music School affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SCM). In 2020, he graduated from the Primary School with No. 1 highest score and was invited to join the Music Middle School without an entrance exam. He is currently studying in Year 10 at The Music Middle School of SCM.

Yau Nam Ng won numerous awards including first prizes at the Chopin Open Category at the Singapore International Youth Piano Competition 2015; the Children’s Group at the EU National Music Academy Youth Piano Competition 2016; Young Professional’s group at Xiamen International Piano Competition 2022. He is also the Silver Award in the Junior Piano category at the 4th Zhuhai Mozart International Competition in 2022 and the third prize winner in the professional group of the Lang Lang Shenzhen Futian International Piano Art Festival National Youth Piano Elite Competition in 2021 and 2023.

In 2020, Yau Nam Ng and Yutian Yang’s Piano Duo won the “Talented Musician Program” award from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In the same year, he was selected as a member of the “Music Little Angels” talented program and performed in collaboration with conductor Maestro Muhai Tang at the Shanghai Concert Hall. He has also performed with Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Chengdu City Orchestra and under the direction of Xieyang Chen, Yongyan Hu, Liang Zhang, Qiyuan Zhu, Xiaoou Zhao, Xingyu Hu and Hao Chen.

Yau Nam is also a member of the “Yangtze River Piano” National Young Pianists’ Training Program.

Sebastian Picht comes from a musical family. One of his earliest musical memories was listening to his grandfather, Edward Kalendar, play jazz standards and his original compositions on the piano. Sebastian began his piano training with his grandmother, Asya Kalendar, and started private lessons at the age of five. He was most recently a piano student of Ms. Amy Yang in Philadelphia. Sebastian currently attends the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore as a student of Professor Alexander Shtarkman.

Sebastian has received numerous prizes and awards is a Lang Lang Young Scholar for 2022-2024. Sebastian performed for the opening concert of the 2023 Swiss Alps Classics in June as a representative of the Lang Lang Foundation. Sebastian made his orchestral debut with the Lansdowne Symphony in May 2022 as winner of the 2021 Irving Ludwig Concerto Competition. He was a finalist in the 2022 Oberlin Piano Festival Competition, and also received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Philadelphia International Piano Competition. Sebastian has also received top prizes in other local competitions through the Philadelphia Music Teachers’ Association, for which he has performed at Weill Recital Hall. He has participated in various festivals across the Northeast, including the Curtis Institute Young Artists Summer Program and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Sebastian has played in master classes for Yoheved Kaplinsky, Kathryn Brown, Gary Graffman, and others. Sebastian recently graduated from the chamber music program at the Center for Gifted Young Musicians at Temple Music Prep, making four tours to Iceland while a member of the program. Sebastian gave the U.S. premiere of the first movement of his grandfather’s piano concerto with the Youth Chamber Orchestra at Temple Music Prep in December 2022, composing a cadenza for the occasion. Sebastian has played many solo recitals throughout the Delaware Valley, including several at various senior residences under the auspices of Allegro Music Consultants.

In addition to his passion for the piano, Sebastian is an avid basketball fan, a skillful cook, and adept in Russian and Spanish. He also has a keen interest in politics and issues related to social justice, and is a passionate writer. He was awarded a “Silver Key” from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in the Short Story category. Sebastian has participated in voter registration and food distribution efforts in Philadelphia, and was a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s “Model Organization of American States” program for 2022-2023. Sebastian recently graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia with a diploma in the International Baccalaureate Program.

Amir Siraj is an American pianist from Boston, Massachusetts.

Hailed by TheaterJones as a “gentle” yet “passionate” interpreter, he has played at venues including Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Symphony Hall. A top prizewinner at local, national, and international competitions, Amir has performed with orchestras including the New England Philharmonic, the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, and the Metrowest Symphony Orchestra, and prestigious organizations including the Harvard Musical Association and the American Liszt Society.

“I am delighted and humbled to have been selected as a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. Music has a beautiful way of bringing people closer, acting as a truly universal language that ties us all together. Wielding this enourmous amount of power, music education and community outreach have the potential to change millions of lives. The Lang Lang International Music Foundation plays a crucial role in realizing this potential by spearheading initiatives to make access to classical music and music education more accessible and ubiquitous. I look forward to joining my fellow Young Scholars in working to improve both as musicians and as arts leaders, under the mentorship of Lang Lang.”

Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 2010 with the American Fine Arts Festival, he has been a three-time prizewinner at the Steinway Society of Massachusetts Piano Competition, a laureate of the Chopin International Competition in Hartford, a first prize winner at the New England Piano Teachers Association Ruth Davidson Competition, two-time first prize winner at the Music Teachers National Association’s Massachusetts division, and five-time first prize winner at the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association Bay State Contest. In 2015, Amir was selected as one of twenty-four young pianists in the world to participate in the Cliburn International Junior Competition and Festival. In 2016, he was selected as a National YoungArts Foundation Winner.

As an avid proponent of the music of his time, Amir has performed many world premieres including chamber works by Stephen Feigenbaum and solo works by Larry Bell, in addition to frequent performances of published contemporary works by Lera Auerbach, Marti Epstein, and William Bolcom. He studies privately with Helena Vesterman and attends the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and has taken master classes with the likes of Peter Serkin, Douglas Humpherys, Hung-Kuan Chen, and Meng-Chieh Liu.

Amir also has a passion for bringing music outside of the concert hall, and into communities, where classical music can have a real, tangible impact on people’s lives. As an Arts Leader with From The Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders in Boston, he has worked over the past three years to spread the joy of music in hospitals, senior living communities, and children’s museums. Amir worked with the Steinway Society of Massachusetts in 2014 to give a performance at the Chapel of the Massachusetts General Hospital, where his music was broadcast live to over 1,500 patient rooms. In January of 2016, Amir organized a concert in partnership with From the Top and Music For Food to raise funds for local hunger relief efforts, which garnered enough donations to provide over 5,000 meals for community members in need. He has also performed chamber music extensively in community settings. In his free time, he enjoys rowing on CRI’s Men’s Varsity crew team and running the Brookline High School Innovation Club, which he founded.

website: http://amirsiraj.com/

American pianist Clayton Stephenson’s love for music is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument.

Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music-making.

Growing up in New York City, Clayton started piano lessons at age 7, and the next year was accepted into The Julliard School’s Music Advancement Program—a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students—where he lingered to watch student recitals and fell in love with music. Clayton practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street. For the next six years that would be his practice piano, until, at the age of 17, he received a new piano from the Lang Lang Foundation.

He credits the generous support of community programs with providing him musical inspiration and resources along the way. As he describes it, the “Third Street Music School jump-started my music education; the Young People’s Choir taught me phrasing and voicing; Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program introduced me to formal and rigorous piano training, which enabled me to get into Juilliard Pre-College; the Morningside Music Bridge validated my talent and elevated my self-confidence; the Boy’s Club of New York exposed me to jazz; and the Lang Lang Foundation brought me to stages worldwide and transformed me from a piano student to a young artist.”

Highlights of his 2025-26 season include a performance of the Brahms Concerto # 2 with the Cincinnati Orchestra, 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. He will play the Ravel Concerto in G with the Nashville and Portland (Maine) Symphonies as well as the Stuttgart Philharmonic (Germany). In addition he gives recitals at the Jacobins Festival (Toulouse, France), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Isabella Gardner Museum (Boston) and Crystal Bridges Museum (Arkansas). Clayton finishes his season in spring 2026 on tour with the Stuttgart Philharmonic in Italy.

Recent seasons have included concerto performances with the Houston, North Carolina, Virginia and Cincinnati Symphonies; festival appearances at Grand Teton, Grant Park, and Tippet Rise; recitals at the Kennedy Center for Washington Performing Arts and the 92nd Street Y in New York City; and gala performances with the New York and Las Vegas Philharmonics. He also served as the 2024-25 Artist-in-Residence at the Hartford Symphony.

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, he has been a recipient of a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in 2024 and received a Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025.

Praised for his “power, speed and finesse of artists twice his age” (Tribune Star), pianist Elliot Wuu is a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist, one of the most prestigious honors in piano, and a winner of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. A Young Steinway Artist, Wuu has appeared as soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, performing alongside artists including violinist Augustin Hadelich, pianist Lang Lang, and the Dover Quartet.

In 2026, Wuu won First Prize at the Lloyd Piano Competition with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and was named a Laureate of the 2025 American Piano Awards. That same year, he released Onward on the Steinway & Sons label, a recording of works by Bach, Schubert, Schumann, and Debussy. Abroad, he recently performed at Le Piano Symphonique in Switzerland.

Beyond performing, Wuu serves as the Artistic Director of The Summit Series, the signature artist-in-residence program at the Conservatory of the Arts at Valley Christian Schools in San Jose. The series brings world-class artists and master teachers to the Bay Area for lessons, masterclasses, and performances, giving students direct mentorship from GRAMMY® award winners, distinguished faculty, and the world’s top soloists.

In 2015 alone, Wuu took First Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition for Young Artists, Second Prize and the Schubert Prize at the International e-Piano Junior Competition, Third Prize and the Mozart Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, and Second Prize and the Best Performance award at the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition. He went on to win the 2017 National YoungArts Competition, and was named a 2014-2016 Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and a 2016-2021 MTAC Young Artist Guild member, the highest honor given to California music students.

Wuu has performed across the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, and China. In New York, he has played the United Nations Headquarters in the presence of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the WQXR Greene Space, and Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium for the GRAMMY® Salute to Classical Music. He has also appeared at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the Gilmore Festival, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Aspen, Four Seasons Chamber Music, La Jolla Music Society, the Hilton Head Bravo! Piano Festival, and the Chopin Foundation of the United States. In 2013, he was one of twelve young pianists chosen worldwide for the inaugural Lang Lang Junior Music Camp in Munich, performing in concerts and masterclasses. He is an alum of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, where he remains active in performance, recording, and mentorship with Lang Lang, and has since been featured on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, Performance Today, NPR’s From the Top, andThe Violin Channel.

Wuu made his orchestral debut at 16 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He has since appeared as soloist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, and the Arad State Philharmonic in Romania, among others. He has also studied in masterclasses with Dame Fanny Waterman, Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, and Ruth Slenczynska.

Born in September 1999 in Fremont, CA, Wuu began piano at age six. Throughout high school he was a music scholarship student, studying with Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College and at the Valley Christian High School Conservatory of the Arts, following earlier training with Jed Galant and Rose Chen. A Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School, Wuu earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees under Robert McDonald, and studied chamber music with Emanuel Ax, Joseph Kalichstein, and Catherine Cho. He graduated with the William Schuman Prize, Juilliard’s commencement award for outstanding achievement and leadership in music.

Elizabeth Zietz is privileged to have been chosen as a 2016 Lang Lang International Music Foundation Young Scholar. Her goal is to share the enjoyment and beauty of classical music with others.

“I am so excited! I feel extremely privileged to join the Lang Lang International Music Foundation family, and to meet and learn from the master Lang Lang, and my peers. I look forward to sharing myself and my music to benefit others. Music brings beauty to the world. Its true power lies in its ability to inspire and influence anyone. It is a special form of human expression that can transform and connect people of all ages and backgrounds together under the common appreciation for music. By cherishing music, we understand ourselves, others, and the world around us better. I can’t wait to start my Young Scholar journey!”

Born in California, fifteen year old Elizabeth is a sophomore at Northwood High School in Irvine, and she began studying the piano at the age of six. She is thankful to her teachers who have helped her develop her musical talents, including Claudia Xi, Valentina Gottlieb, Chun-Yi Wang, and Ethan Dong. Additionally, she has participated in masterclasses with William Grant Naboré, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Sergey Schepkin, Baruch Meir, Bernadene Blaha, and Roza Yoder.

At the age of seven, Elizabeth made her debut performance at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. She made her concerto debut at age thirteen with the Orange County Symphony.

Elizabeth won the Grand Prize at the Glendale Piano Competition and was the first prize winner of the Lansum International Music Festival. She has also won first prizes at the CAPMT Young Musician’s Concerto Competition, CAPMT Sonata Festival, and first alternate at the MTAC Southern Region State Concerto/Solo Competition. In 2014, she was a prizewinner at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. She was also a six time consecutive first prize winner in open categories at the Southwestern Youth Music Festival.

In third grade, Elizabeth performed in a benefit concert for the County of Orange United Way of America, and has been involved in fundraising ever since. She has performed in many community service venues and has appeared as guest soloist for public service events and gala and kickoff campaigns. She also regularly appears in recitals for senior citizens. Recently, Elizabeth was an invited artist to perform at the National Association of Music Merchants Convention.

Outside of music, Elizabeth enjoys swimming, reading, spending time with her family, and traveling. Elizabeth is a Johns Hopkins CTY SET (Study of Exceptional Talent) Member. She was invited to John Hopkins University for the Grand Ceremony, a special event honoring students for their outstanding academic achievement.