New Mozart Blog — Music lessons in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Los Altos, & Mountain View

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Student Highlight - Neil Iyer

We are thrilled to introduce you to Neil Iyer. He recently won the 1st prize at the 2023 Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition.

Neil will be taking the stage at the legendary Carnegie Hall in July for the winner's concert! This is a major accomplishment and a testament to Neil's hard work and dedication.

1. What is your name and how old are you?

I am Neil Iyer and I am 11 years old.

2. How long have you been studying music and how old were you when you first started?

I started playing piano at the age of 5 (and started learning the instrument at New Mozart). It was my first and only instrument. I have been playing it for 6 years now.

3. What pieces are you currently working on?

I am currently working on L'Orage by Bürgmuller, a variation of Folia, and a Sonatina in C major by Kuhlau.

4. How often do you practice?

I practice five days a week for twenty to forty-five minutes each day. I never practice on Saturdays, because that is when I have lessons with Dr. Sophia. I also have one other "cheat" day, where I don't practice, usually because I don't have time. Dr. Sophia says slow practice and practicing hard sections is important, so I do that a lot.

5. Why do you love music?

I like music because I enjoy playing and listening to it. I also compose music; it is just so fun to be able to control what you can play.

6. Tell us about some of your recent accomplishments.

Here are some accomplishments:

  • New Mozart Honors Recital of 2021 & 2022

  • American Youth Musician Union Competition in 2021 - Honorable Mention

  • Bay Area Piano competition (Aug 2022) - Merit Award

  • 2023 Golden Classical Music International Competition - 1st Prize. I will be going to Carnegie Hall in July to perform.

7. What are some things you like doing besides music?

I like to read books, swim in the summer, and code.

8. What do you want to be when you grow up?

I've not completely decided yet, but it will definitely have to do with science and music.

New Mozart Honor Students 2023

Congratulations to New Mozart Honor Students 2023!

New Mozart Distinguished Honor Students 2023

New Mozart Distinguished Honor Students are presented certificates commemorating their achievements and will be performing at the New Mozart Honors Recital on March 26th.

Kenneth Baker
Malaika Boros
Paloma Boros
Simon Braun
Wenyu Cao
Alice Cavalotti
Maya Cheng
Siddharth Chidambaram
Avarya Das
Aditya Deka
Zara Donepudi
Emma Eren
Paxon Fatehi
Kalea Gaudilliere
Madeleine Gifford
Quin Guedelhoefer
Chloe Guo
Austin Guydish
Neil Iyer
Lucas Jelks
Eleanor Jiamg
Jacob Jonson
Ella Katila-Miikkulainen
Joseph Lee
Elijah Leppert
Asher Leppert
Jackson Leung
Angela Lim
Ella Miikkulainen- Katila
Alli Miikkulainen- Katila
Malhar Nair
Malhar Nair
Marlene Ng
Mira Poeta
Charlotte Ranisavljevic
Lilian Ren
Leo Shang
Aiden Singh
Anoushka Sinha
Adalyn Tao
Wesley Tsai
Rylan Tsai
Cory Tsai
Matias Velasquez
Aarthi Venkatraman
Elizabeth Wahl
Keaton Wan
Arwen Wei
Evelyn Wu
Sophie Wu
Nathan Wu
Ava Wu
Chloe Wu
Max Yang
Ayla Yarnall
Haha Zhang
Annabel Zhao
Victoria Zheng
Tianran Zhu

New Mozart Honor Students 2023

New Mozart Honor Students are presented certificates commemorating their achievements.

Yohann Aaron-Pracht
Elizabeth Amuzinskaya
Sarah Baker
Zale Baker-Matsuoka
Yue Cao
Beatrice Capodieci
Ettore Caragiulo
Zoey Chan
Abigail Cheng
Lucas Cheng
Eliza Chuang
Charlotte Chuang
Maidi Crawford
Sophia Cui
Sebastian De Lecea
Dhriti Deepak
Ridhann Desai
Margaret Donald
Grace Du
Paloma Fatehi
Hannah Francis
Kyra Ginwalla
Alma Goldberg-Vardi
Aviv Goldberg-Vardi
Robin Gray
Rebecca Gray
Zaara Gupta
Dash Hasseltine
Chantal Herath
Skyli Hu
Bennett Huang
Sarabeth Huang
Alethia Hui
Ayan Iyer
Anya Jain
Avni Jain
Anya Jain
Aiden Jamiolkowski
Adam Ji
Alexander Kayal
Geneviece Kayal
Jugat Kholi
Charlie Klinkner
Kai Knutson
Adya Kumar
Ryan Lampe
Amelia Lee
Matthew Lee
Roland Lee
Toran Lento
Caroline Leong
William Li
Reina Lim
Sophia Lin
Jonah Lippert
Steven Liu
Emma Loose
Jasmine Ma
Yazan Massarweh
Ella Miikkulainen- Katila
Emily Moeng
Bhkaci Mohadaar
Chiara Montanari
Nicola Montanari
Camilla Morales
Shaun Ng
Michael Petrova
Eva Petrova
Aria Poeta
Saina Priyadarshi
Avanti Ram
Harrison Rampell
Cameron Rampell
Jack Rosen
Nadhini Sa
Annelise Sailer
Valentina Salah
Matias Santisteban
Felix Sarris
Emmett Seeger
Samanvika Senthil Kumar
Yiheng Shang
Steven Shu
Anoushka Sinha
Shiv Sitaram
Kipling Song
Andrew Stevenson
Patrick Suriyentrakorn
Tarek Tag
Artem Tesov
Ishana Tewari
Shreya Tiruvury
Charlotte Urban
Iker Vahamaki
Benjamin Vakil
Aniket Vendant
Sahana Venkat
Levi Walter
Tristan Wan
Arwen Wei
Mikkel Weidmann
Grace Weir
Callia Wen
Kate Wong
Zara Wong
Lana Wong
Chloe Wu
Nathalia Yang
Oribella Yang
Spencer Young
Indigo Young
Brandon Yu

Celebrating New Mozart's Longstanding Teachers

As we continue to celebrate our 20th year in Palo Alto, we are proud to celebrate the commitment and dedication of our talented teachers.

Here are teachers who have been with us for over 10 years. They bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the New Mozart community.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to these teachers for their hard work, passion, and commitment to our students. Thank you for helping to make New Mozart a thriving and dynamic music school!


Meet Teacher Maria

Meet New Mozart’s amazing new teacher! Maria teaches voice and piano currently and will also be teaching Songwriting & Harmony Road classes starting next semester.

Teacher Maria is a singer/songwriter born and raised in Cali, Colombia (Latin America). She came to the US to follow her passion for music and graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Music Industry from The College of Saint Rose. Growing up, she won various singing competitions and was an opener for big music festivals in Colombia. Now, under the artist name “Ria Carval”, Maria’s debut album “Ignorance” has more than 57k streams and her main singles have reached radio, blogs, magazines, newspapers and TV appearances worldwide. Her vocal training is very diverse after experiencing classes with remarkable opera, gospel, musical theatre and even rock singers. She also learned piano at a young age, was trained on jazz and contemporary piano techniques and it is now the instrument she uses to write songs on the daily. After being a music educator for almost 3 years, Maria has discovered a passion in teaching children the magic and welcoming nature of music. In everything she does her purpose “Feel To Heal” is what makes her a great teacher. “I want my students to learn that feeling is ok, and music can become a place for them to dream, grow and embrace their uniqueness and potential”.

Student Highlight - Penelope Cheung

In this photo, Penelope performs at the Musikverein in Vienna as the 1st Prize Winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition.

Penelope also just returned after performing at Carnegie Hall on July 21st as the 1st Prize Winner of the Golden Classical Music Competition.

1. What is your name and how old are you?

My name is Penelope Cheung, and I am 8 years old.

2. How long have you been studying music and how old were you when you first started?

I have loved music since I was a baby, I think. I was 4 years old when I started playing piano (in the Harmony Road Program with Ms. Christine). I started playing violin when I was 5 years old.

3. Who is your teacher?

My teacher is Marcia.

4. What pieces are you currently working on?

On the piano, I am working on Bach’s Gigue from Partita #1, Schuman’s Fantasy Dance, and Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor.

On the violin, I’m working on Monti’s Czardas and Massenet’s Meditation from Thais.

5. How often do you practice?

I try to practice music everyday.

6. Why do you love music?

I like the way music sounds and makes me feel.

7. Tell us about some of your recent accomplishments.

For Piano:

·      New Mozart Distinguished Honors Student (2020 and 2022)

·      New Mozart Practice Challenge (2021 and 2022)

·      2020 Bay Area Music Association US International Open Music Competition – 3rd place

·      2021 US Open Music Competition – 2nd place (Open Solo)

·      2021 Bay Area Music Association US International Open Music Competition – 3rd place

·      2022 Golden Classical Music Awards – 1st prize

·      2022 US Open Music Competition – 3rd place (Showcase Piano Solo), 4th place (Open Solo), 4th place (Treasury of Romantic Composers)

·      2022 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition Vienna – 1st prize

·      2022 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition London – 1st prize

·      2022 Crescendo Little Mozarts International Competition – 1st place

 

For Violin

·      2021 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition London – 1st prize

·      2021 Bay Area Music Association US International Open Music Competition – 2nd place

·      2021 Crescendo Little Mozarts International Competition – 1st place

·      2021 Golden Classical Music Awards – 1st prize

·      2021 Prima Volta Music Competition – 3rd place

·      2021 Elite International Music Competition – 2nd place

·      2021 Crescendo International Music Competition – 3rd place


8. What are some things you like doing besides music?

I like to dance ballet, sing, ski, ice skate, swim, make food with my dad, make YouTube videos, play with my family and my cute little brother, travel with my family, play with my friends, and explore and learn about new things. You can watch my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/1612ca/videos

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

I don’t know yet. I want to be many things when I grow up.

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