（Canada -Toronto ）Artist Classical Concert Season: GOCAA Master with Young Artist Concert

GOCAA  Judge Concert ---Aaron Wunsch

Aaron Wunsch, pianist Director of Keyboard Studies and Piano Curriculum, The Juilliard School Artistic Director, Music Mondays Artistic Director, Skaneateles Festival

Program

"Water Music"

Frederic Chopin - Barcarolle, op. 60

Franz Liszt - Au lac de Wallenstadt (The Lake at Wallenstadt)

Maurice Ravel - Jeux d'eau (Playing with Water)

Claude Debussy - L'isle joyeuse (The Isle of Joy)

Margaret Bonds - Troubled Water

The Juilliard School

Aaron Wunsch, pianist

Director of Keyboard Studies and Piano Curriculum, The Juilliard School

Artistic Director, Music Mondays

Artistic Director, Skaneateles Festival

Pianist Aaron Wunsch enjoys a multifaceted career as a performer, presenter, and educator. He has performed on concert stages throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, including in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Duke’s Hall in London, at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and as a soloist with symphonies in the US and China. Lauded for his “masterful” chamber music performances (Hartford Courant), he has appeared at the Norfolk, Bowdoin, Sarasota, Great Lakes, and Yellow Barn chamber music festivals, collaborating in performance with cellist Lynn Harrell, clarinetists Charles Neidich and Anthony McGill, violinists Miranda Cuckson and Jennifer Koh, and the Miró and Parker Quartets, among others. He has worked closely with many renowned composers, including Thomas Adès, Nico Muhly, and Kaija Saariaho, and has performed new works by Saariaho and John Adams during Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music.

He studied at Yale University (B.A., cum laude), the Mozarteum in Salzburg (Fulbright Fellowship), and at the Juilliard School (M.M. and D.M.A.). He was formerly Assistant Professor of Piano at William Paterson University and is currently the Director of Keyboard Studies and Piano Curriculum at Juilliard, where he teaches piano literature, graduate studies, chamber music, and directs Juilliard PianoScope, the Piano Department’s performance series. He gives piano masterclasses and lectures at conservatories and universities in the U. S., Europe, and Asia, and he was a 2010 Visiting Professor at Shanghai Normal University. His awards for written work in musicology include the Henry Hart Rice Prize and the Richard F. French Prize. His principal teachers in piano included Peter Frankl, Karlheinz Kämmerling, and Robert McDonald, and he also worked with Andras Schiff, Jerome Lowenthal, and Claude Frank; his history and theory studies were with Allen Forte, Robert Morgan, L. Michael Griffel, and Maynard Solomon.

He is Artistic Director of both the acclaimed Music Mondays concert series in New York City and Co-Artistic Director of the Skaneateles Festival, in the Finger Lakes.

GOCAA Young Artist  concert 

Program

1 Ryan Huang 

 Beethoven Concerto no.2 op. 19 1st movement. 

2. Michelle Yeh 

Beethoven concerto No 4 first movement 

3.James Wu

Violin Concerto in A Minor, RV356 Op 3 No 6 by Antonio Vivaldi

4.Angela Ye

F. Chopin  Ballade no.2 in F maj, op.38

S. Rachmaninov Prelude op.32 no.12 in G sharp min

5.Carson Chen

W. Mozart Variations 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ( Ah vous dirai-je, Maman)

S. Rachmaninov Barcarolle op.10 no.3

6 Andrew Bao

Bach Prelude and Fugue in e flat minor BWV.853

Beethoven Piano Sonata No.8 Pathetique 3rd mvt.

7 Justin Chen

Sonata no.21 C major op.53 (Waldstein) by Ludwig van Beethoven

1st movement

 

8 Antian Jiang

La campanella, 

Étude #3 from Six Grandes études de Paganini, 

S. 141 by Franz Liszt

 9 Artem Kopylov 

Liszt Ballade no.2 in B minor, S.171. 

10 Gregory Vandikas

Fantasie in C, Op.17 - Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen; Im Legenden-Ton - Robert Schumann

Miroirs - IV.  Alborada del gracioso - Maurice Ravel

Young Artist Bio.

Gregory Vandikas, piano

Recently winning the Romantic concerto competition (2021) at the Schulich School of Music in Montreal, Gregory performed with the McGill Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alexis Hauser in September 2022. He has also performed in Toronto with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra's Concert Series in the

2020-2021 season under the baton of Krystian Alexander. A grand prize winner of the GOCAA International Piano Competition (Boston), the International Music Festival and Competition (Toronto), and the Crescendo International Piano Competition (New York), he has been invited to several performances over the years, including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Toronto’s Classical FM 96.3 Noon-Hour Show. Gregory is also a recipient of the Newmarket Arts Grant as well as the RCM National Gold Medal Award for his Licentiate Diploma in Piano Performance while studying under Dr. Michael Esch. He is a graduate of the Arts Unionville program at Unionville High School where he performed both as a soloist and collaborative pianist.

Gregory has attended summer festivals in Europe, and in Canada and has performed in masterclass for such noted artists as John O’Conor, Jean Saulnier, Ronan O'Hara, Shai Wosner, Benedetto Lupo, Suzanne Beaubien, Mari Kodama, Evelyne Brancart, William Aide, Paul Komen, Jamie Parker, Charles-Richard Hamelin, and Curtis Institute professor, Meng Chien Liu. Awarded the Davis Scholarship and the Student Excellence Award, he is currently completing his fourth year in the Bachelor of Music Piano Performance program under Professor

Ryan Huang, 

12 years old.  He is the a scholar student in The Phil and Eli Taylor Academy under Dr. Michael Berkovsky.  Prior to that he has studied piano with Dr. Olga Chichova since age of 6.

Performance Experience with Orchestra

Ryan is enthusiastic about performing on stage. At such a young age, Ryan already performed with several orchestras around the world, including

·       Moscow Symphony Orchestra (Russia);

·       Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra (China);

·       Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (Canada);

·       Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra (Canada);

·       Tarnow Chamber Orchestra (Poland);

·       T.I.M.M Chamber Orchestra (Italy);

·       OCMS Symphony Orchestra (Canada)

·       Napoli Youth Orchestra (Italy)

In 2023,  Ryan will be playing with symphony orchestra in Vienna (Austria) , as one of the four finalists across all instruments in his age category in the Classicalia Global Televised Music Competition.

Ryan performed several times in the main hall (Isaac Stern Auditorium) at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In July 2019, his first full length solo concert ‘Sounds of Summer by Ryan Huang’ was held in Shanghai Symphony Hall, one of the most prestigious concert halls in China.

Artem Kopylov

Young Steinway Artist, Artem Kopylov, is a recipient of the Canadian Young Artist Standards of Excellence Awards Winner Notice by Steinway and Sons. He is an avid music ambassador, and is currently studying with Prof. Olga Chichova and taking private lessons with Grigory Gruzman. Artem is a winner of numerous national and international competitions for young pianists, performing with symphony orchestras in Toronto, Burlington, Moscow, and others. He is a first prize winner and laureate of the Steinway and Sons (New York City), GOCAA (Boston), 18th Nutcracker (Moscow) piano competitions, and others. Artem has been broadcasted twice on Canadian national television by CBC and Radio-Canada. He has participated in festivals in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, U.S.A., Russia, and has taken master classes with prestigious pianists, including Dmitri Bashkirov, Marina Mdivani, Akiko Ebi, André Laplante, Bernd Goetzke, Bernd Glemser, Boris Petrushansky, Grigory Gruzman, Pavel Nersessian, Valeri Piasetski, and Stanislav Igolinsky, perfecting his pianistic, musical, and personal skills. Recently, he has given recitals at famous concert halls, namely Carnegie, Steinway and Sons, Boston Conservatory, Tchaikovsky, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and others.

Justin Chen

Justin began playing the piano at age 6 and began learning music composition at age 7. He studies at University of Toronto Schools. He was accepted by The Royal Conservatory Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at age 10. He was awarded several first places in piano and composition categories in international and local competitions. Justin was invited to play in the famous Carnegie Hall of New York at age 8. He won the Canadian Music Trophy in the CCC Music Festival at age 9. He was invited to perform his own composition at the Canadian Junior Original Concert in Winnipeg at age 9. He was invited to perform his own composition for the Royal Princess Her Imperial Highness on Aug 25th, 2019, at the Royal Conservatory. He also won the Kiwanis Club Kingsway Humber Award at age 9 and age 10. He got a Gold Star at International Music and Stars Awards in 2020. In 2020 and 2021, he won Gold Prize in the Steinway Piano Competition. He won first place in the 2021 GOCAA International Piano Competition and became a 2021 GOCCA Young Artist. He won Yip’s Music Festival Best of Levels (ARCT) Trophy in May 2022. Also, he was awarded Kiwanis Music Festival Most Promising student and got David Ouchterlony Memorial Scholarship in May 2022. He won the First place in the Group under 14 years old with mark 100 in the International 22nd LAMS Matera Award. Also, he got LAMS scholarship as the best competitor in all piano categories. He got his Piano ARCT diploma with First Class Honor with Distinction at age 11. He highly enjoys participating in piano and composition competitions. As a classical music lover, he is always finding ways to connect classical music to modern life. He hopes he can use his music to inspire others and let others enjoy.

Carson Chen

has won numerous awards in international competitions and local music festivals. As his debut in summer 2020, Carson was named Best of Class Piano L3 in OMFA’s Provincial Final. In 2021, he won Gold Star at the Music and Stars Award International Competition, and Gold at Steinway’s Piano Competition. Summer of 2022, he won 2nd place for Piano Age 7 group in the national Canadian Music Competition. Same year in December, Carson had the opportunity to collaborate with Irvine Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart’s Concerto No.12 in A major and won the GOCAA Young Artist Award. Carson is also an award winner of Steinway Cup, and Steinway’s Canadian Young Artist Standards of Excellence Awards.

Apart from music, Carson also enjoys playing hockey, skiing and biking with his little brother.

Andrew started playing the piano from age 4. During the past years, Andrew has participated in a variety of piano competitions and has achieved excellent results, e.g., 2nd Place in Category of Piano (10 yrs.) at 2022 Canadian Music Competition, Gold Award at 2020 Steinway & Sons Piano Competition, 1st place and the Junior Pianist Contract Award at 7th GOCAA International Piano Competition. He was the winner of 2022 Taylor Prize (Full Scholarship) at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists.

Andrew Bao

has actively attended several SickKids fundraisings concerts and performance events for residents in long-term care home. He was also invited to play at the Koerner Hall in 2022 Royal Occasion Gala and represented Taylor Academy to play in some local music festivals or fundraising events.

Andrew is currently in grade 6 at Claude Watson School of the Arts. He enjoys music, reading, playing chess and painting.

Michelle began her piano studies at age six and entered the Taylor Academy of Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto at age 12 with scholarship. She is currently under the tutelage of Lang-Ning Liu and had numerous master classes including Leslie Kinton, Angela Park, Stephan Sylvestre and Li Wang.

Michelle Yeh

has won numerous regional, provincial and national piano competitions. Recently she received 1st place at the ARCT level of the provincial final (Ontario) held by OMFA (2022), as well as numerous placement at the national final (Canada) at the Canadian Music Competition. In additional Michelle has won numerous 1st placement at regional competitions and scholarships from Markham, Kiwanis, North York, Yips, Crescendo, and Elite piano competitions. Michelle is also a winner at the GOCAA competition. Michelle has performed at various winner’s gala concerts including the ones held at Carnegie Hall, New York.

In her spare time, Michelle enjoys reading and swimming.

Antian Jiang

Antian is a remarkably talented and accomplished 16-year-old pianist from Ontario, Canada. Her musical achievements include becoming the youngest person ever to earn the Licentiate Diploma (LRCM) with Distinction in the 130-year history of the Royal Conservatory of Music, achieving this feat at the age of 10. She also earned the ARCT Diploma at the age of 9, making her the second-youngest person in RCM history to achieve this honor. As a student of U of T Applied Faculty, Dr. Michael Esch, Antian has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall in New York, NEC at Boston, Boston Conservatory, and the Royal Conservatory of Music, as well as making her orchestral debut at Markham Theatre. Antian's impressive list of recent competitive achievements includes winning the laureates and first prize in the Sound Espressivo Globe competition (Livestream,) the 21st-century-talents-North America competition, the Franz Liszt Center International piano competition (Europe), the Young Euregio Piano award (Germany), and the Małopolska International Music Competition (Poland),etc. In 2019, Antian earned a full scholarship to the Morningside Music Bridge program at NEC (Boston) and was recognized with the "2019 Excellence in Music Award" from the City of Markham. In addition to her musical achievements, Antian is a G10 student in the TOPS program, a STEM-focused program, and has won numerous international math and science contests.

Wu, James,

7 years old, started playing both violin and piano at age of 5. He is self-disciplined, dedicated, and hardworking in practicing musical instruments and keeps making progress. With a great passion for music, James has won numerous awards in various competitions in local music festivals and international competitions. James performed at Carnegie Hall twice in 2022 and won 2nd place in Piano and 3rd place in violin. He also performed in some charity recitals. James achieved the Steinway 2021 Canadian young artist standards of excellence award, he is also keens on reading books and different sports such as basketball, hockey, and soccer.

Angela Ye

 is 17 years old and from Oakville, Ontario. She completed her ARCT and continues her piano studies with Dr. Olga Chichova. Angela has received numerous scholarships and awards from local, provincial, international and Steinway competitions. In 2019, Angela won the Junior Pianist Contract Award at the GOCAA international finals in Boston. In 2020, she performed at New York City’s prestigious Carnegie Hall. In 2021, she was a recipient of the Canadian Young Artist Standards of Excellence Awards. In 2022, she organized her personal concert at the Toronto Steinway Piano Gallery. In addition to piano, Angela sings and plays violin.

Angela supports her community by performing in charity concerts, accompanying musicians at Kangle Senior Home, and simply volunteering at a variety of non-profit organizations such as Redleaf Cultural Integration. Angela enjoys other aspects of her life too. She is currently working hard to complete the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme at school. She engages in school clubs like DECA, volleyball and STEM study groups. She has participated in many math contests such as those hosted by Waterloo, American Mathematics Contests (AMC), and the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). She also swam competitively for 6 years and competed in the Niagara Championships.

Angela finds joy in everything she does. As someone who is grateful for finding many passions and interests at such an early age, Angela takes advantage of every opportunity to share them with her community.