NBS “Spotlight on Award-Winning Students” Free Gala Concert

The Nelly Berman School of Music will present a free “Spotlight on Award-Winning Students” Gala Concert on Saturday, May 3rd at 7:00 PM in the Radnor Middle School Auditorium. The concert will present a number of outstanding students who, through their talent and hard work, have reached an extremely high level of musical achievement. The Nelly Berman School’s scholarship program allows these dedicated and deserving students extra time with their teachers, making it possible for them to delve more profoundly into the intricate texture of music and bring it to the highest level possible.

One of these students is Melody Yu, an eleven-year-old pianist who started her extraordinary musical journey at the age of five and a half. At seven, she was already practicing up to three hours a day and winning one competition after another. Now, she has just won the Junior Division of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Concerto Competition as well as the first prize at the 5th International Chopin Competition. Her exquisite, subtle interpretation of the most complicated piano repertoire, such as Chopin’s Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, which the audience will hear on May 3rd, defies her miniature frame. This little girl, looking even younger than her eleven years, makes each musical phrase soar with beauty. Her little fingers go the speed of light and her body sways with grace and total abandon, as if she is calling to the audience to experience the joy of music-making with her.

Other students performing are Ethan Lee, fifteen-year-old former winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra Concerto Competition, who will play the third movement of the devilishly difficult Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto. He just played this concerto as a soloist with the Olney Symphony Orchestra at a concert with two other NBS students, ten-year-old violinist Sara Yamada and thirteen-year-old cellist Alex Wu.

The May 3 concert will also feature the Nelly Berman School Orchestra. These students, ranging in age from six to seventeen, will play the introduction to Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo, the first Baroque opera. This performance will feature Leah Bedenko as a voice soloist, as well as trumpets, trombones, violins, violas, cellos, percussion, flutes, oboes, saxophones and clarinets. Another student who will perform is Alex Gu, a twelve-year-old pianist who is also the captain of his basketball team and the wide receiver on his football team. He recently played at Carnegie Hall as a Gold Prize winner of the Little Mozarts Competition. In fact, every child who will play on May 3rd is a high achiever in their academics, some are outstanding in sports, and all are playing on a high professional level musically. It is truly a sight to witness the profound effect that classical music has had on these children. It is a great inspiration to see what young people are capable of through hard work, talent, and the financial support of a scholarship fund.

The Annual Gala celebration will also honor Susan Starr, a Philadelphia native who rocked the classical music world when, at the age of 19 she traveled to Moscow, USSR, during the Cold War, and won the silver medal of the Tchaikovsky Competition, a citadel of Russian and world-level classical music competitions. Susan Starr was the first teacher in the United States of Elena Berman, the director of The Nelly Berman School, and an inspiration for Elena and Nelly Berman to give the gift of classical music to talented young musicians, as Susan Starr gave Elena hours of free weekly piano lessons for a whole year. The scholarship program has shaped the lives of many talented and hard-working young students.

Please reserve your tickets online by visiting www.nbsmusic.com. Call (610-896-5105) or email (nbsmusic@comcast.net) the Nelly Berman School for more information. To learn more about the free “Spotlight on Award-Winning Students” Gala Concert, the Nelly Berman School Classical Music Institute scholarship program, or to donate to the Institute, please visit www.nbsmusic.com