Matthew Chung, age 15, is a 10th grader at Methacton High School. He has been a student of Hsiao-Ming Chen for 10 years at Community Music School. He also attends Center for Gifted Young Musicians (CGYM) of Temple Music Prep.
Matthew was the winner of Bucks County Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concerto Competition in 2021, making his solo debut with their orchestra. He was awarded the Jeanne-Marvin Phillips prize, along with the Marie Paxson Fund from Delaware Valley Music Club. At Tri-County Concerts Youth Festival, Matthew won 2nd place in Senior Strings 2022, 1st place in Junior Strings 2021, and as part of Eridanus Trio, 2nd place Junior Ensemble 2019. At the state level, Matthew won multiple competitions such as being named PA State Alternate for Junior Strings in the MTNA Competition 2021, 1st prize Opus Competition, 1st prize Crescendo International Competition, in which he performed at Carnegie Hall. For two summers, Matthew attended Philadelphia International Music Festival, where he won 2nd place in the 2021 Concerto Competition. Matthew’s CGYM Quintet won silver in the Bosendorfer Youth Music Festival. Recently, he was named the Grand Prize winner of the Philadelphia Korean Musicians Association competition. Matthew has participated in masterclasses with Priscilla Lee and Marcy Rosen. In his freshman year, he was the 2nd chair cellist in PMEA District 11 Orchestra.
Matthew is a distinguished honor roll student. In school he enjoys math, computer science, and history. Aside from cello, he plays soccer on his high school JV team and also competes on his track team with his friends.
Kai Freeman is a 9th grader at Haddonfield Memorial High School. He is a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and performs in the Braverman String Quartet as a scholarship recipient in the Settlement Music School’s Advanced Study Program.
In the 2021-22 season Kai was the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra and won the ensemble’s Eighth Annual Young Artists Solo Competition with his performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. This season, he will appear as soloist with the Warminster Symphony as the Youth Division winner of its Young Artists Competition. In previous seasons, he has participated in a number of ensembles including PRYSM and PRYSM Young Artists, the Chamber Players Orchestra at Temple University’s Center for gifted Young Musicians, All South Jersey String Ensemble, and the Settlement Music School’s Trimingham Piano Trio.
In the past summers Kai has attended Carnegie Hall’s NYO2 program, the Violin Workshop at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, Heifetz Program for Exceptionally Gifted, the Mann Center’s All City Orchestra Summer Academy, Point Counterpoint, the Philadelphia International Music Festival, and the inaugural Suzuki Conventions of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico.
Kai began playing the violin at the age of four under Gerry Rice and currently studies with Amy Oshiro-Morales of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also studied with J Freivogel of the Jasper String Quartet and Francesca de Pasquale. Aside from playing the violin, Kai plays trumpet, runs on his school’s track team, and enjoys reading and
watching movies.
Lucas Lauprasert, age 16, began studying the viola at age 8. He is currently studying at Settlement Music School under the direction of Shelley Beard-Santore. There, he has been taking private lessons, theory classes, and chamber. He also plays in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) and the Advanced Settlement Chamber.
During his freshman year, he was accepted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth (PMAY) Artist Initiative. Through this organization, he has been participating in masterclasses with well-known guest clinicians. He was the 2021 winner of the DYSO concerto competition. In addition, he was awarded the 2019 Jacqueline Beach Faulcon Scholarships. He attends Cab Calloway School of the Arts where he is an honor student. Outside of music, he enjoys biking, soccer, and drawing.
ANDREW LI, 13, was born in Toronto, Canada. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, where he started learning piano in Preparatory Program at School of Music of Carnegie Mellon University. Since he moved to Philadelphia in 2018, Andrew continues his study of piano under Elena Berman, Executive Director and President of Nelly Berman School of Music and Marianna Prjevalskaya, visiting Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University. In 2021, Andrew won First Prize of piano duet from 2021 Concerto and Chamber Music Competition held at Bryn Mawr College as part of 2021 Triumph Music Festival.
He also won First Prize of piano solo in 2021 Triumph Music Festival and performed at Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Andrew performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City as the First Prize and Exceptional Young Talent Special Prize winner of the 2021 New York Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition. In 2022, Andrew won First Prize in 2022 Triumph Music Festival and performed again at the winners’ concert at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. He also won Honorable Mention at 2022 American Virtuoso International Music Competition and is invited to perform again at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2023. Other awards include Silver Prize at 2022 Amadeus International Music Awards, Second Prize at 2022 US New Star Piano Competition by Composer, Second Prize at 2022 New London International Music Competition, Third Prize at 2022 MEDICI International Music Competition and Honorable Mention at 2022 Tri-County Youth Festival.
More recently, Andrew was awarded Superior performance at 2022 Dorothy Sutton Festival and performed at State Showcase. In addition to his solo studies, he enjoys playing as a collaborative pianist. He has accompanied for his school chorus since 4th grade and played with violin at summer camp at Nelly Berman School of Music. Beyond piano, Andrew also loves cooking, stand-up comedy, collecting/investing in LEGOs, swimming, golfing, and traveling around the world. Music always makes Andrew relaxing and cheerful!