New Hope concert introduces 5 outstanding young performers

Ellie Taylor of Hatboro, winner of the Bart Pitman Memorial Keyboard $5,000 Scholarship, will be a featured performer March 12 at the Delaware Valley Music Club’s Young Performers Concert at Thompson Memorial Presbyterian Church in New Hope. 

The scholarship was established 34 years ago by the parents of Bart Pitman, a gifted young pianist and organist who died at the age of 29. Each year, the scholarship winner is selected by a jury of professional classical pianists and organists.

Now a first-year piano major at North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, Taylor studies with Dr. Dmitri Shteinberg, renowned Russian-born concert pianist. She started her piano studies with her aunt when she was eight years old, and at age 12, began seven years of study with Sandra Carlock at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia.

Also included in the concert program are prizewinners of the 2019 Bucks County Symphony Youth Concerto competition. 

First place award winner Sarah Park of Bethlehem, 15, is a 10th grader at Liberty High School. She has won numerous competitions, including the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Young Artists competition, Crescendo International Youth Competition, and KRB New York International Competition. She has performed at Weil Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, and the Kennedy Center for winners’ concerts, and is currently playing in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. 

Second prize winner Vibha Janakiraman, 14, of West Chester, began studying the violin at age 6, and is currently a student at the pre-college division of the Julliard School. She is the violinist of the Gray Charitable Trust Advanced Scholarship Piano Trio at the Settlement School, and will be perform this year with the Ambler, Main Line and Newark Symphony orchestras as winner of their concerto competitions.

Honorable Mention winner Linus Dubischar, 15, a cellist from Easton won the Philadelphia International Music Festival’s 2019 Vivaldi Double Concerto competition, and later performed as a soloist with the Festival’s Music House Orchestra.  Honorable Mention winner Miro Raj, 13, of Wynnewood, has been studying the violin since he was six years old, and is a member of the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, recently winning second place in their annual concerto competition.

The Young Performers Concert takes place March 12 at 2 p.m., and is free for Delaware Valley Music Club members. Guests, as well as the general public, may attend for a $10 fee.  A tea reception for members and guests follows. 

The Thompson Memorial Church is located at 1680 Aquetong Road in New Hope (Solebury).