Young Musicians Contest 2018

Amos Lageschulte is in the second grade at PS 859 - Special Music School, where he studies flute in the studio of Valerie Holmes. Amos enjoys ballet, baseball, and playing with his siblings.

Caleb Pinder, age 8, attends PS 859 - Special Music School, where Valerie Holmes is his flute teacher. He has been practicing the flute for almost three years. Although this is his first YMC competition, it will be his second  NY Flute Fair performance, as he had the pleasure of performing in an ensemble with some of the other SMS flutists in 2017. Caleb loves a good challenge, so along with his interest in becoming a great flutist, he is a self-proclaimed mathematician. In his spare time he enjoys creating and solving complex math problems for fun. Caleb dreams of one day becoming an engineer like his father. 

Ages 9-11: William Garrity and Semin Kang 

A New York City native, William M. Garrity, age 11, attends fifth grade at Friends Seminary. He is a member of the ISO Concert Orchestra and for the last six years has studied with Valerie Holmes at the Lucy Moses School. William has performed with Sir James Galway at Carnegie Hall and has played at Symphony Space and Merkin Hall. He has competed in the YMC every year since 2014 and won the 8 and Under category in 2015. When Will is not playing the flute he enjoys reading and practicing Tae Kwon Do.

Semin Kang, a native of Seoul, Korea, is in fifth grade at the Ralph S. Maugham Elementary School in Tenafly, NJ. She plays flute in the school orchestra and Tenafly elementary symphony and studies flute with Steven Kim at the New York Music School. Semin likes to listen to music, especially pieces composed by Bach and Mozart. She also loves to swim and eat noodles. 

Ages 12-14: Yi-Hsien Eu 

Yi-Hsien Eu, 14, started flute study with Joseph Lu when she was in fifth grade. She was selected as a member of the All Shore Intermediate Band of ASIBDA and the Central Jersey Music Educators Association Regional Wind Ensemble for three years (2015-17), and won first chair in both last year. Ms. Eu came in third place for two years in the New Jersey Music Teachers Association competition (2016-17). Yi-Hsien also placed third in the Music Teachers National Association national competition  in 2017, representing the Eastern Division. She was accepted into the Juilliard Pre-College Division last year and now studies with Bart Feller.

HyeJin Cho is a senior at Bridgewater-Raritan High School. She studies with Soo-Kyung Park at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division and plays in the Philharmonic Orchestra. She began playing the flute at age 10 with EunSook Hong. She has attended The Consummate Flutist at Carnegie Mellon University and the NYU Woodwinds Program as a performer. HyeJin Cho won first place in the 2017-18 MSM Precollege Concerto Competition for Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion and the Elite International Music Competition. In 2016, she performed the Hüe Fantaisie with the NV Chamber Orchestra. She will attend the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in the fall.

Madeleine Park is a 15-year-old Korean American and a freshman in high school. Born in Singapore, she started playing the flute in the third grade and has been studying under Soo-Kyung Park for the past four years. She was a first prize winner in the Elite Competition (2018), runner-up in the Manhattan School of Music Winds and Brass Concerto Competition (2017), and a first prize winner in the Camerata Artists International Competition (2017). Madeleine is currently enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Program, where she enjoys playing in an orchestra and a chamber group. 

Our Honorable Mention Winners