Jeremy Jahng, Viola

Jeremy Jahng, the first prize winner of 2021 American Viola Society Festival Competition Junior Division is an 18-year old high school student in Great Neck, New York. At the age 10, he started his musical endeavor which included piano and viola. 2 years later, he gained acceptance into the Juilliard Pre-college program.

His most notable viola performance was J.S. Bach Brandenburg concerto duo with Grammy winner Richard O’Neill in 2022. In 2020, he was also invited as a soloist at a New York Classical Player orchestra concert. His other performances include solo performances at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in 2019. He has been a violist at the Julliard Pre-College String Ensemble and was the co-principal violist in 2019.

He was invited to the Morningside Music Bridge summer program in 2023 on a full scholarship. Aside from the American Viola Society honor, he received numerous recognitions in viola including the absolute winner at the World’s Best Musicians Competition in 2024, first prize at the Great Composers Competition in 2024, first prize at the RADDA Rise String Competition in 2023, the grand prize nominee/first prize at the New York Classical Music Competition in 2022, the grand prize at the New York Laureate International Music Competition in 2021, the first prize at the New York Virtuoso International Competition in 2021, the first prize at the National Artist Competition in 2019, the first prize at the New York International Music Competition in 2019, and the first prize at the Manhattan International Music Competition in 2019.

Andrew Li, Cello

Andrew Li, sixteen, is a distinguished honors student and junior at Germantown Friends School. Andrew began studying cello at age eight. He has been studying with Dr. Kwang Yu for the past nine years and has been a cellist in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra for four years. Andrew has also been the principal cellist of the Germantown Friends Symphony Orchestra for three years, previously also holding the principal cellist seat in the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra. Andrew was a silver medalist in the 2024 Bosendorfer Youth Music Festival and was the first place winner of the 81st Annual Tri-County Youth Festival in Senior Strings. This past summer, Andrew attended the 2024 International Orvieto Festival of Strings hosted in Orvieto, Italy on a full merit scholarship.

Aside from music, Andrew is a debater with numerous awards, notably a qualifier to the prestigious Tournament of Champions with elimination runs at tournaments including Princeton and Harvard. He also rows for his school team, where he placed in the top 20 in USRowing’s Youth National Championship hosted in Sarasota, Florida. When not doing any of these things, he enjoys being with friends, listening to music, and reading.

Julie Zheng, Violin

Julie Zheng, age 13, who will be entering her freshman year at Lower Merion High School, started her music education at age 3 with piano, then moved to violin at age 6. She has participated in several orchestras, including PYO Music Institute’s PRYSM YA’s as principal second, PRYSM, Young Musicians Debut Orchestra (YMDO),sat principal second, Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra’s (PYAO) fourth chair , and is currently in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) and will be joining her schools chamber orchestra in the upcoming year. Julie studied violin first with David Barnett, then with Angela Sulzer and now Meichen Liao-Barnes for the past 5 years. Julie has received Honorable Mention in Bucks County Youth Concerto Competition(2023, 2024), received second place in Tri-County’s Youth Festival’s Junior String division (2023) and played in the winner’s recital the following June. She was also the unofficial 1st prize winner in the same division (before unfortunately getting disqualified for placing the previous the year)(2024). Julie was also a finalist in Philadelphia’s international Music Festival’s June Session Concerto Competition(2023). Julie was invited to participate in a masterclass with Dara Morales in the following year(2024). She has also taken masterclasses from other Philadelphia Orchestra members, such as Julliette Kang, Marc Rovetti, Christine Lim, and Kimberly Fisher. She has also been coached in performance classes by other accomplished violinists, such as Phil Kates, Madison Dae, and recent 3rd place winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2024 Elli Choi.

Apart from violin, Julie started school a year early, and was additionally accepted into her district’s gifted and advanced mathematics program. She has also been a part of her school’s tennis, volleyball, track, and cross-country teams, and ice skates when not playing competitive sports for school. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, trying new foods, and traveling.

Aavi Sircar, Piano

Aavi Sircar is 12 years old and a sixth grader at Great Valley Middle School in Malvern, Pennsylvania. He began piano lessons at age 8 and since then has performed at major concert venues nationally and internationally and has been featured as a young virtuoso on Steinert & Sons ‘Steinway Stories’ series. Aavi has played at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Academy of Music Ballroom in Philadelphia, Field Concert Hall at Curtis Institute of Music, Sala dei Notari in Perugia, Italy, GC de Lijsterbes in Brussels, and has been invited to perform at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Poland. Aavi has performed in masterclasses by renowned pianists such as John Perry, Steven Spooner, Sasha Starcevich, Arthur Greene, Svetlana Smolina, Igor Resnianski and Maria Asteriodou. Aavi has won solo piano performance prizes at various competitions including Chicago International Music Competition and Festival, Chopin Avenue International Piano Competition, Chopin Hartford International Piano Competition, Charleston International Music Competition, Bösendorfer Youth Music Festival, OPUS Music Competition, West Chester University Pre-Collegiate Piano Competition, Steinway
Society of Massachusetts Piano Competition and Clara Schumann International Piano Competition. In 2023, he was a runner-up at the Harmony for Peace Junior Peace and Music Ambassador competition and received an honorable mention at the 11th Cesar Franck International Piano Competition in Belgium. He’s won concerto competition awards at Triumph Music Festival, Keystone Concerto Competition and Sempre Musick Concerto Competition. During Summer 2023, Aavi attended the Chicago International Music Competition and Festival on a scholarship and made his orchestral debut at Music Fest Perugia in Italy with the Europa Musica Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Marius Stravinsky. As a recipient of the 2024 Ambler Symphony Orchestra Scholarship and a winner of the 2024 Young Artist Concerto Competition, Aavi will perform as a soloist with the Ambler Orchestra and the Old York Road Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Jack Moore in February 2025. In the summer of 2024, Aavi will attend the highly selective Piano Texas International Festival and Academy as a junior performer. He will also
attend Kutztown Summer Music Festival on a merit scholarship and the New Orleans Piano Institute.

Outside of competitions, Aavi enjoys sharing his music with local retirement homes residents. He takes piano lessons from Mr. James Anemone at Anemone Piano Studio in West Chester, Pennsylvania and has a been a scholarship recipient at the studio since Fall 2021. Apart from piano, Aavi enjoys science, math and coding computer games in C#, Lua, Java Script and Unity. He has been training in martial arts since he was 5 years old and will be testing for his 2nd Dan (2nd Degree Black Belt) in Taekwondo in October 2024.

Daniel Haiduc, Piano

Daniel Haiduc is a 16 year old young pianist. At the start of the
Covid pandemic, his family relocated to Princeton, NJ. During that time, he realized the importance of establishing a meaningful connection with his local music community, and now firmly believes that young musicians must find ways to give back to others. In the past few years he has volunteered to teach piano to young students, played at local senior centers, and participated in recitals to raise money and awareness for the Homefront Organization, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and World Central Kitchen. He is also a Piano Youth Ambassador in the Youth Ambassador Program started by Legacy Arts International in Princeton. In the past year, Daniel has won the first absolute prize in the 2024 Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition, the New York Young Performers Prize Competition, and the Orbetello International Online Piano Competition, and was a  finalist in the 13th Annual Lyra Music Youth Competition. He has also won first prize at the Piano Teachers Congress of New York Honors Program, third prize at the XIV Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, CT, and a special prize in the 2022 Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition. He has performed in masterclasses for professors Meng Chieh Liu, Alessio Bax, Hung-Kuan Chen, Mikhail Voskresensky, Yoheved Kaplinsky, John Perry, Seymour Bernstein, Julian Martin and Boris Petrushansky.

For the past 3 years, Daniel has studied piano with Professor Ingrid Clarfield. In the fall of 2024, Daniel will continue his piano studies with Professors Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he is also a fellow of the Artemisia Akademie. In his free time, Daniel enjoys playing tennis, participating in math competitions, and taking aerial photographs and videos from wherever he travels.