MusicTeacherGifts.com 9th Music Competition, Ages 15-16

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May 21

Written By Becky Chaffee

2022 Compositions by Ages 15 and 16 Entries - Distinguished Judges are Laura Schwendinger and Giovanni Piacentini

First Place Tie: Chia Ren Cher and James Chatchapon Leelayuvat

(Instead of first and second places, I chose to give a first place tie).

Find from ages 17 and 18 HERE, and from ages 10 to 14 HERE.

Except for 1st Place Tie, the pieces listed are in no particular order. All the students are amazing, and I’m proud to present their work.

Chia Ren Cher, “Variance Op. 4”

Chia Ren Cher is 16 years old, born in Singapore. He found interest in composing music at 11 years old. His first composition was a violin-yangqin duet which he scribbled using his own notation and he performed with his brother in a public festival. That prompted him to start learning music theory and then progressed into the study of classical music composition.

By 13 years old, his composition, “String Quartet No.1, Colour, Op.1” , comprising four movements of 30 minutes, was performed by well-known professional musicians.

To-date, he has won 11 sole winner prizes and first prizes in different composition competitions in United States, France, Serbia and Romania from 2020 to 2022, and another 8 second prizes in composition in competitions in Austria, Germany, Italy, United States and Hong Kong. One of the first prizes included a USD40000 scholarship for a 4-year degree course in composition in a California University. Two of the first prizes won included a live performance of his winning work in Texas, pending to be programmed in a concert when public health safety allows.

Ren Cher is also talented in playing both solo and orchestral violin and yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer). He received multiple first prize awards for violin solo and yangqin solo competitions. He has performed over 60 performances across 10 years in a philharmonic orchestra in major concert halls in Singapore and internationally such as in Vienna, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan. Ren Cher is also the yangqin section chair of a Chinese orchestra and has over 10 years of public performance experiences. He has also done music arrangements for his school’s orchestra and has also conducted string ensembles for public performances.

James Chatchapon Leelayuvat, “Quartet for Four Concert Flutes”

I guess I can start with my introduction to music 8 years ago. I had music classes in school when I was in 4th grade, I picked the flute for some reason which I don't remember anymore. During those years of primary school, music was kind of an afterthought, I didn't pay much attention to it. As well as the first two years of middle school. I still kind of regret it to this day that I did not focus and learn more about music. The year after that though (which was the last year of middle school), I started playing and practicing more seriously. I then cultivated my love for classical music and well as other genres of music. During that time, I started to listen heavily to the masters like Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Beethoven, and such.

One year later, I was incredibly engrossed in the music and became incredibly "nerdy", so I decided to take up music composition. I tried to find as many resources as I could including books, videos, courses, and more. That's how I ended up here.

Julian Raheb, “Serpent’s Gamble”

16-year-old Julian Raheb is a pianist, composer, artist, 2-time piano competition winner at NJPAC and 9-time Arts Connection winner. He attends Frank Sinatra School Of Arts for art and Manhattan School Of Music for composition, piano and film scoring. Featured on Fox 5 NY by Ernie Anastos and a full-page feature in The Brooklyn Paper. His compositions have been premiered by The Regina Opera, The American Composers Orchestra, The NY Youth Symphony and The NY Philharmonic Very Young Composers.

Julian was a 2021 finalist in the National Young Composers Challenge for his string quartet, Expanding Time, 2nd place winner in the Long Island Composers Alliance for “Serpent’s Gamble” (piano trio) and a 2019 and 2020 finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards for “The Heat” (9-piece orchestra).

He is 3-time Gold Medal Scholastic Art winner, and his work is currently on exhibit at The Met Museum. He is also a Recanati-Kaplan 92Y art scholar.

John Critelli, “On the Shores of Paumanok”

John Critelli is a 16-year-old composer and cellist from New York City, NY. He has studied cello at the School for Strings with Alex Croxton since he was four, and he has won numerous awards as a soloist and as part of a piano trio. Most recently, his trio was selected to play in The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Youth Musicians Program Regional Concert in March 2022. As both a soloist and ensemble member, John plays regular outreach concerts to help build community and alleviate the isolation of homebound individuals. John started composing when he was 11, beginning formal composition lessons with Steven Sacco in 2019. Since then, he has written works for cello, piano, orchestra, and more. John volunteers as a cello practice partner and music theory tutor for underserved children and enjoys playing basketball, chess, ping pong, and video games in his free time. John hopes to continue studying composition and cello performance in college.

Annika Joshi, “Jades for String Orchestra”

Annika Joshi, a 10th grader, is a pianist and composer. She has been studying classical piano since the age of five. She is currently under the tutelage of Yulia Soboleva from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Annika is passionate about composing and has created original scores and works with Terry Lowry, an American composer with over 200 published works. She is studying music composition with Dr. Sunha Kim, a professor and composer from South Korea.

Annika made her solo debut in Carnegie Hall in November 2019 as a Second Place Winner in the Golden Classical International Music Competition. She recently won the Crescendo International Little Mozarts competition and has been invited to play at Carnegie in 2022. She won First Place in the Great Composer Series for Best Mozart Performance in 2020 and Second Place for Best Chopin Performance in 2021. She has also participated in a variety of Festivals in the Atlanta area, achieving the highest grade designation.

Annika recently won the Golden Key International Piano Composition Contest. Her work 4 Pieces Caracteristiques was selected to be performed at Mozarthaus in Vienna. Annika won the Nolting Award in Music Composition awarded to first place winners in the MTNA Georgia state-level composition competition. She worked on three original pieces with the faculty at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee during the High School Composition Intensive program.

Her music compositions have won the CSO Young Composer Competition 7 times, earning her the opportunity to orchestrate them for the Carroll Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Her work “Flames of Alexandria” was premiered at the Valentine’s Masterworks Concert 2021 at the Carroll County Performing Arts Center. Her works have premiered at the “Sounds of Liberty” concert (a 4th of July concert in West Georgia, with over 10,000 attendees) and have been broadcast live on B-92 Country and KISS 102.7 radio stations.

Annika performs for residents in senior living centers. She is a regular at Sunrise of Johns Creek, Ivy Hall Assisted Living and Ashwood Meadows Gracious retirement living.

Brady Redding, “Opus 6 Fantasie ‘Tragique’”

My name is Brady, I’m 15, and I’ve been playing the piano for almost exactly a year now (First lesson was in Feb. of 2021), and I’m super excited to be able to participate in this competition, and to see some of the other competitors works! Some of my passions that don’t include music are computer programming, language learning, and collecting manga.

Kai Matera, “Piano Quintet in D Minor”

I am a young musician, composer, and avid photographer who lives in California. I enjoy playing violin and piano in chamber music ensembles and symphony orchestras, in addition to composing new music to express my creativity. I have been a member of the John Adams Young Composers program for the last 4 years and played in the Young People's Symphony Orchestra for the last 3 years. My music composition work and violin performance have been recognized by several national awards, prizes and scholarships, which include first prize in the IYMC International Music Competition USA Composer Awards, Exceptional Merit Award for Music Composition, and Music Performance for the Bay Area Creative Youth Awards, finalist for the National Young Composers Challenge, full scholarship for the National Symphony Orchestra/Kennedy Center Summer Institute, and finalist for the Yellow Barn Young Artists Composition Program.

Music is simply my passion. My artistic interest has also led me to photography, which I have studied and pursued for the past few years. My photos have been used in high school publications and have won a Scholastic Art Awards in Photography.

Samuel Mincarelli, ”Piece for Cello and Piano”

Samuel Mincarelli is a young American composer and pianist with a fascination for music theory. He first was intrigued by idiosyncratic anecdotes of composers from long ago. Appreciating their music, Samuel aspired to follow in their tracts. As time progressed, Samuel began to discover more and more about the world of classical music, including the avant-garde styles of Bartok, late Scriabin, among other giants. He aspires to revolutionize music theory as many greats have. His postulations encompass a rudimentary mathematical view of music at its core, and expand outward to include many more properties and operations. These then can be organized into different grammars, some rigorous and some free. The piece presented in this competition utilizes a very fluid theory, adapting in different scenarios, lacking a fundamental musical grammar. Samuel plans to expand his theories and create new music of a new age.

Remember to support MusicTeacherGifts.com for this fine Competition. You may enjoy the products below or many others on the site, all created by Becky.