All Classical Radio | On Deck with Young Musicians

Rhys Phillips is an 18-year old multi-genre, multi-instrumentalist, and a senior at West Linn High School. His principal instrument is the piano, but he also sings and plays the cello, guitar and bass. He loves playing classical, jazz and pop. He deeply loves music, and in intently focused on music as a career: he is headed to Berklee College of Music in the Fall. Throughout this high school career, though, Rhys has found it a bit difficult to connect with his peers about his love of classical music. We’ll talk with Rhys about the struggle to find his tribe.

Lilia Niebuhr is a 14-year-old multi-instrumentalist, who will start her sophomore year at Westview High School in the fall. Lilia started learning piano when she was only 4, and started flute in 4th grade. Recently, she also picked up the oboe, and within just a few short months, she qualified for the State Solo and Ensemble Competition. Currently she plays both of her woodwind instruments with Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In this episode of On Deck, Lilia chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her drive to seek new challenges and stick to efficient practicing habits.

Sal Wallin is a classical guitarist and composer at Reed College, where he is majoring in music with a focus on composing. He has studied guitar with multiple teachers including Cameron O’Connor, Mario Diaz and John Mery, and additionally studies voice and composition with Emily Lau. He also sings with the Big Mouth Society, a community-supported collective of musicians which performs multiple unique, wide-ranging concerts each year.

15-year old Alexis Zou attends Lake Oswego High School and 16-year old Hansen Barrett goes to West Linn High School. Their piano teacher, Renato Fabbro, suggested that they might both benefit from being in a piano duo together. They’ve been a duet for just one year, but they’ve already amassed quite a list of accomplishments. The two talk this week with Christa Wessel about the challenges of playing with another pianist, and what resulting benefits they’ve seen in their own musicianship.

In this episode of On Deck, 17-year-old cellist Andrew Sickler speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about finding the cello at a young age, and how a recent switch in his approach to practicing allowed him to discover a future in music. Andrew is on his way to the University of Oregon for a major concentration in music performance under the tutelage of Steven Pologe. In Portland, Andrew played with the Portland Youth Philharmonic and with his school orchestra at Tualatin High School.

Roberto Moo-Julian is a rising senior at Roosevelt High School and a trumpeter in the BRAVO Community Orchestra. He started music in the 4th grade in BRAVO Youth Orchestras and has performed at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, the capitol building in Salem, the YOLA National Symposium in Los Angeles, and has even made a guest appearance in one of the recitals of this episode’s host, Adam Eccleston. Roberto dreams of attending college to study physical therapy to help athletes while also maintaining his love of music.

Keean Balsiger is an 18-year-old senior at Tualatin HS who plays viola, violin and guitar in classical, jazz and rock ensembles. In this episode of On Deck, Keean chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about the similarities and differences between his different instruments and the genres that he enjoys exploring. Over the course of his musical career, Keean has been a member of many school ensembles as well as the Portland Youth Philharmonic and Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Additionally, he plays guitar with his school’s Jazz Ensemble, and has a rock band with friends.

Amy Faust chats with singer Sam Decker, a senior at Rex Putnam High School and a member of the Pacific Youth Choir. Sam is a section leader at PYC and tells us about his approach to mentoring, which largely focuses on bonding and having fun. Sam will be attending University of Oregon next year as a music major.

In this episode of On Deck, Raul Gomez-Rojas speaks with violinist Ryan Jun, a junior at Mountainside High School. He has been playing the violin for eight years, and currently studies with Carol Sindell. He won the Young Artists Competition and soloed with the Jewish Community Orchestra in 2022, and was chosen as a 2023 winner of Cognizart’s Young Artists Debut! Competition,which takes place May 26 at the Reser in Beaverton. Ryan has also been a member of the Portland Youth Philharmonic for the past 4 years. Besides music, he enjoys playing on his school’s varsity golf team and sees some parallels between golf and music.

Luke D’Silva is a sophomore at Westview High School. His musical journey began at 6 years old with the violin. Three years later, he decided to play the viola with Andrea Hawkins as his teacher. Luke joined the Young String Ensemble of PYP (Portland Youth Philharmonic) as the Assistant Principal Violist and became the Principal Violist the following year. Luke is currently the Co-Principal Violist of the PYP Orchestra. In 2022, he joined Oregon’s All-State Honor Orchestra, and in 2023, he served as Principal Violist of both All-State and All-Northwest Honor Orchestras. He plans to attend college and double major in music and engineering.

Sarah Lee, age 16, is a sophomore at Westview High School and an award-winning cellist. In this episode of On Deck, Sarah chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her journey and accomplishments, including being one of the winners of Cognizart’s 2023 Young Artists Debut! Competition. Sarah is also a member of the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and has participated in numerous master classes and summer programs.
 
 In addition to playing cello, she is a competitive soccer player, and enjoys teaching with Project Prelude, a student-led organization that introduces elementary-school kids to string instruments.

Amy Faust chats with Andy Shin, the youngest of this year’s Metro Arts Cognizart Young Artists Debut winners. He’s an 8th grader at Beaverton Academy of Science and Engineering. Andy has played the cello for 4 years after making the switch from piano. (It was a live performance of a Saint-Saens cello concerto that got him.) He currently plays with the Portland Youth Philharmonic and plans to continue doing so in high school. You can see Andy with his fellow winners at a special Cognizart Young Artists Debut performance on May 26th at the Reser Center in Beaverton.

Raúl Gómez-Rojas chats with Minntah Haefker, a 16 year old Junior enrolled at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon. Minntah often sings as a guest vocalist with the band “3 Leg Torso,” studies Opera with her voice coach Angela Niederloh, and competes in state/regional competitions singing in multiple languages. She also loves to perform gigs at the restaurant “Carruthers” in Astoria, Oregon and enjoys creating music with her friends. Minntah sang in the Lincoln HS Choir and Cardinal Choir her freshman and sophomore years and recently won the Soprano Soloist Category for District 1.

Sophia Folawn is a junior at St. Mary’s Academy. She’s been playing flute with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony for 3 years and enjoys it very much; she first started out in the Flute Ensemble led by Adam Eccleston and has recently joined one of the top orchestras in the organization. A proud student of Liberty Broillet, Sophia enjoys listening to mainstream flute sensation Lizzo, who also happens to be an inspiration of hers.

18-year old saxophonist Aria Morgan spent her first three years of high school at Portland’s Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School, then her senior year at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Now a freshman at USC’s Thornton School of Music, she speaks with Raul Gomez-Rojas about her love of music as well as the importance of activism in her life, saying “seeing musicians on stage that look like you is powerful.”

17-year old pianist Chloe Zhang (“zang”) was a finalist in Portland Piano International’s Concerto Competition, and also was one of the winners in the Beaverton Symphony’s Young Artist Competition. She deeply adores music, but interestingly -given her successes- it’s not going to be the focus of her life. She engages in music purely for the love of it. We’ll hear her story -and learn about her environmental non-profit (Next-Gen Innovators)- in this episode of On Deck with Young Musicians.

Alessandro Diaz Ayala is a cellist and conductor who hails from BRAVO Youth Orchestras. He’s a 9th grader at Jefferson high school and enjoys classical music very much. Lately, he’s been exploring other instruments like the flute and quickly realized how much air is needed for the instrument, but he still enjoys playing it in the school band. Alessandro plans to attend college (Harvard is his #1 school) to major in medicine and minor in music with the dream of becoming a surgeon. Check him out at the next BRAVO Community Orchestra concert at the University of Portland. You'll see him in the cello section and conducting a piece on the program! You can learn more about BRAVO at www.oregonbravo.org.

Ben McHarris is a 17-year-old senior at Cleveland High School in Portland, and a clarinetist with Metropolitan Youth Symphony, where he has played since 2020. In this episode of On Deck, Ben speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his initial inspiration to choose the clarinet and his journey at MYS. Also, Ben shares about his other musical explorations, including playing electric guitar in a band with his friends (named Miter Saw!), in the genres of screamo, hardcore and slowcore.

Sarah Hohndel is an 18-year-old tuba player with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In this episode of On Deck, she chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about starting to learn the tuba when she was only in fifth grade, horseback riding and earning her third degree black belt in Taekwondo. In addition to those passions and skills, Sarah enjoys reading, playing with her pets, and hanging out with her family. She is passionate about helping others, solving problems, drawing, and baking. In addition to playing with MYS, Sarah has been a member of the Oregon All-State Wind Ensemble.

Amy Faust gets to know Maya Hausman, a senior at Cleveland High school who plays flute and piccolo (plus a little bit of clarinet!) for various school ensembles as well as the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.
 
 Maya started playing the piano at age 5, but as a member of the Cherokee Nation she was drawn early on to the native flute playing at the tribal gatherings her family would attend each summer. Her passion for classical music is matched by her drive to bring attention to indigenous history and justice. At Cleveland, she co-founded a native student union and is part of the campaign to change the school’s name due to Grover Cleveland’s anti-indigenous policies. For this segment, Maya plays a contemporary piece (Homeland, by Allison Loggins-Hull) that evokes her people’s history of displacement.

Sam Lines is a 17-year-old junior at Lake Oswego High School. He has been a member of the top orchestra at the Metropolitan Youth Symphony since 2020, where he often plays principal horn.
 
 In this episode of On Deck, Sam chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about the joys and challenges of being a horn player, plus his passion for his other instruments: piano, guitar and trumpet. Sam is also a successful soccer player, currently on the roster of his school’s varsity team.

Aili Deibert is a Junior at PorRoosevelt High School. She’s been playing flute with BRAVO Youth Orchestras (an El Sistema inspired afternoon music program based in North Portland) since 2015. She has performed at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and was selected to perform in the National Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA).
 
 Aili is an active performer and teacher and has been a part of the BRAVO Community Orchestra for several years. After high school, she plans to attend college and major in law while still keeping up with music.

Soren Cowell-Shah has been singing his whole life. Now a 17-year-old senior at Catlin Gabel, he joined Pacific Youth Choir when he was only five years old.
 
 In this episode of On Deck, Soren shares with Raúl Gómez-Rojas how he loves the breadth of music he gets to sing in PYC, as well as the additional opportunities like performing with the Oregon Symphony.
 
 A big fan of Broadway musicals, Soren has acted in all of his school’s productions. Outside of music, he enjoys participating in Model UN, Science Bowl, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. He’ll be attending Harvard University in the fall, where he plans to study linguistics or political science, and looks forward to singing with the school’s a capella groups.

Multi-instrumentalist, Tristan Kriz is a sophomore at Roosevelt High School. He started playing flute in the 5th grade while already playing the guitar. He picked up the clarinet and saxophone as well and loves jazz and classical music.
 
 Tristan joined the Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s Flute Ensemble last year and enjoys it very much. He is filled with so many inspirations and he hopes to continue music in college to become a music teacher.

Amy Faust chats with Mia Williams, a senior at Sam Barlow High in Gresham who is a lead soprano with the Pacific Youth Choir and a passionate participant in her high school theater program. (She’s starring in the title role of “Mary Poppins” this month, in fact!)
 
 Mia has been singing since she can remember — in the kitchen with her very musical family, on various stages in musical theater productions, and most recently at the Keller with the Oregon Ballet Theater in their production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Ishan Ghosh is a 16-year-old junior at Westview High School. He is a highly accomplished oboist and violinist who plays with Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s top ensembles: Symphony Orchestra (oboe) and MYSfits (violin). In this episode of On Deck, Ishan chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his beginnings in music, learning to play the tabla and being immersed in classical Indian music before learning his current instruments.
 
 In addition to performing with his school ensembles, MYS and various honor ensembles in Oregon, Ishan teaches for Project Prelude, a student-run organization that brings violin lessons to elementary school students in Beaverton. Outside of music, Ishan is co-president of the Westview History and Quiz Bowl Club and enjoys hiking and biking.

Claudio Chung is a 17-year-old pianist at Lakeridge high school. He is a student of Linda Barker and a recent winner of Cognizart's <a href="https://www.metroartsinc.org/young-artists-debut" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Young Artist Debut Competition</a>. You can hear him along with the five other winners of the competition on November 18, 2022 at The Reser in Beaverton.
 
 At the tender age of five, Claudio embarked on his musical journey. On top of playing the piano, he also studied the violin for seven years with Ruth Sadilek. After high school, Claudio has dreams to attend Oberlin Conservatory of Music studying piano and hopes to become a professor of piano one day.

Eliana Choi is a senior at Lake Oswego High School who has been playing the piano since she was five years old. In this episode of On Deck, Eliana speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her experience becoming one of the winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut! Competition, and how she’s using her music making to bring joy to people in senior living homes. Eliana is currently a student of Linda Barker, and enjoys training in parkour and rock climbing in her free time.

Kristen Kim is a 13-year old cellist and the youngest winner of a spot on this year’s Young Artist Debut concert (November 18th at the Reser in Beaverton). While she enjoys reading and cooking, most of Kristen’s time is dedicated to music. She plays in 3 ensembles with the Portland Youth Philharmonic and is also a mentor for PYP’s Young String Ensemble. Kristen’s older sister Ellie will also be performing on this upcoming Young Artist Debut concert; it’s the first time in the competition’s history that two siblings will be performing on the same stage.

Violinist Timothy Lee, 17, chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his musical journey and how he is giving back to the community through not one, but two non-profits. As one of this year’s six winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut competition, Timothy is grateful for the opportunities he has had so far. That is why he started Gratis Music (gratismusic.org), which donates violins to children in underprivileged communities. Timothy also teaches with Project Prelude, a non-profit sponsored by Metropolitan Youth Symphony which provides violin lessons to elementary school kids in Beaverton/Aloha.

Amy Faust gets to know Ellie Kim, one of this year’s six winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut competition. A junior at Westview High in Beaverton, Ellie has been playing violin since age 5. With her younger sister, Kristen Kim, also being recognized by Cognizart this year for her cello playing, it’s surprising to hear that Ellie’s parents aren’t musicians themselves, but just wanted their daughters to find something to feel passionate about.
 
 Although Ellie normally prefers romantic-era compositions, she won her Cognizart slot performing Ernest Bloch’s “Baal Shem”, a contemporary piece she connected to through her teacher Carol Sindell. Along with the other finalists Ellie will perform this piece live on November 18th at the Reser Center in Beaverton with members of the Oregon Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Orchestras.

Clara Dyson is an 18-year-old oboist who recently graduated from Ashland High School and is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio. In this episode of On Deck, Clara chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her experience growing up in Ashland, playing in youth orchestra and transferring skills learned in music to other aspects of her life. While she is not fully decided yet, Clara plans to major in a STEM-related subject and potentially minor in music. Outside of music, Clara likes to draw and sew. She was captain of her high school’s robotics team, and principal oboe in the Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon. She is also a recent winner of the Concerto Competition at YMA: Young Musicians and Artists.

Cami Arbella spews inspiration in every word she says. This talented and heartwarming 16-year-old cellist is a student at Jefferson high school and has a 4.0 GPA. A proud Cuban American, Cami is bilingual in Spanish and English. She’s been in BRAVO Youth Orchestras since its conception in 2013. Cami now serves as a high school mentor for BRAVO’s younger students and is a member of the BRAVO Community Orchestra playing principal cello. She spends a lot of her time playing her cello and making origami!

Amy Faust chats with Ayush Wynkoop about music, cooking, and….trains! A rising junior at Valley Catholic High School, Ayush plays flute with Metropolitan Youth Symphony, flute and piccolo with the Westside Youth & Community Orchestra, and saxophone with his high school band. As passionate and dedicated as he is to music, he also loves everything about trains: reading about them, riding them, photographing them, and more. (Would he ever hop a freight train? You’ll have to listen to find out.) He’s also a fan of cooking, which he has learned from his professional chef parents, and he speaks English, Japanese and Marathi, the language from his mother’s region of India.

“It is very much a part of me.” That’s how 16-year-old George Miller describes his relationship with music. This pianist and multi-instrumentalist is a student at Rex Putnam HS, and in this episode of On Deck, he describes to Raúl Gómez-Rojas how music served as a safe space for him after personal struggles when he was only 8 years old. Thanks to the help of Play It Forward, which provided George with lessons and instruments, he is today an avid music-maker who plays more than a handful of instruments and plans to pursue a career in music

Isaac Schultz is a 17-year-old violist with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. In this episode of On Deck, he chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his involvement with PYP, his passion for orchestral and chamber music, and other passions such as baking. At school (Northwest Academy), Isaac is also involved in theatre productions and musical theater.

14-year-old Daphne Tran shares with us her fascinating life with the harp. In this episode of On Deck with Young Musicians, Daphne opens up with Adam Eccleston about her musical inspirations, the different styles of harps, and even shares two of her hidden talents with us.

Benjamin Hosking is a nineteen year-old flute player living in Lake Oswego. In this episode of On Deck, Ben speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about moving to the U.S. from New Zealand when he was 10 years old. Soon after, he discovered music in his elementary school and immediately gravitated towards the flute. Ben is currently a second-year student of Flute Performance at Portland State University under the guidance of Sydney Carlson. In his spare time, he enjoys musical theatre and reading novels, including his all-time favorite series: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.

Amy Faust covers a lot of musical territory with 16 year-old clarinetist Joseph Baik, who will be performing a solo piece at Carnegie Hall this fall.While he loves classical and contemporary music, he is also a passionate fan of hip hop, fashion, and swimming, which he does competitively. This combination keeps him so busy that he says he can literally fall asleep anywhere. Joseph's parents both come from very musical families in Korea, and he's grateful for the way they encourage him but allow him to make his own decisions.

Klara Kjome Fischer, 18, is a recent graduate of the IB program at Cleveland High School and a violinist with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In this episode of On Deck, Klara speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her experience learning, rehearsing and performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 with MYS. In the fall, Klara plans to attend Carleton College, where she will not major in music, but hopes to continue playing in chamber and orchestral ensembles. In Portland, Klara is a violin student of Endrew Ehrlich, and enjoys biking, hiking and climbing trees.

In this episode of On Deck, 16-year-old violinist Derek Choi chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his beginnings in music, playing piano and classical guitar before he ever picked up a violin. Starting a couple of years ago, a shift in his approach to competitions enabled him to start cultivating prizes more consistently: In the spring of 2022, Derek was a winner of the MetroArts Young Artists Debut and the Oregon Mozart Players Young Soloist Competition Senior Division, soloing with their orchestra under the direction of Kelly Kuo. In 2021, he was the First Prize winner of the Grand Metropolitan International Music Competition as well as the American Protégé Music Talent Competition where he was awarded a performance at Carnegie Hall in 2023.
 
 At home, Derek plays with the Portland Youth Philharmonic and teaches with Project Prelude, a student-led program that brings music lessons to elementary school students in Beaverton.

Amy Faust gets to know Koharu Sakiyama, a composer whose piece “Untold Tales,” a collaboration with local young poet Laila Vickers, just premiered at the Metropolitan Youth Symphony‘s spring concert.
 
 Koharu, who also plays violin with the Portland Youth Philharmonic, alto sax with her high school band, as well as the Japanese koto, has won or been recognized by numerous composers’ competitions. Her work has been performed by PYP, her high school band, and other ensembles around the city. This latest piece comes to us through her work with fEARnoMUSIC’s Young Composer’s Project.
 
 Aside from her koto playing, Koharu’s Japanese roots are reflected in a recent composition she created for her grandfather called “Maturi” that was inspired by the many festivals she attended with him in Japan.
 
 Koharu heads to University of California at Berkley this fall where she plans to study cellular and molecular biology.

In this episode of “On Deck,” Margot chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her artistic journey, as well as her leadership roles in her school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance and the program “No Place for Hate,” which seeks to combat discrimination in schools through peer-based education.

15-year old high school sophomore Lorelei Gorton loves the term ‘artist’ because of its range, and that’s exactly how she describes herself. She’s primarily a dancer and musician, but she also has a passion for writing, singing, acting, and visual art. That’s why she loves being able to go to the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton.
 
 In this episode of “On Deck” Lorelei tells Christa Wessel that she believes the arts provide an amazing means of catharsis and a place where she can transform her interior emotions into something externally powerful.

Adam Eccleston shares a heart-to-heart moment with flutist and All Classical Portland Young Artist Ambassador, Diego Fernandez. This joyous junior of South Salem High School has already contributed much to our greater Portland community. Diego is a well-rounded musician supporting works of modern living composers of diverse background. He has aspirations to become a leading professional flutist in order to inspire others like him.

Amy Faust chats with Joey Young, a senior at Mountain View High School in Vancouver. After picking up a viola for his school music program in the 5th grade, Joey's love of classical music led to an interest in composing, which he has been doing now for several years.

Christa Wessel chats with Paul Zupan. A sophomore at Franklin High School, Paul loves nothing more than being with friends in band (Paul plays saxophone) and in the Pacific Youth Choir (Paul sings bass). Paul has been making music since 5th grade, but says it has only gotten more difficult the older they get. When Paul is not making music, which is most of the time, they enjoy computer coding.

Amy Faust gets to know Cael Farrow, a senior at Grant High School in Portland and a passionate advocate for classical music. Cael started playing the cello at age 4, and very soon was entertaining crowds at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, playing for tips while sitting in her car seat. Now a member of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Cael is their principal cellist and studies with Hamilton Chaefetz at Portland State.
 
 Her love for classical music started before she was born, she says, when her mom played Mozart while pregnant. While Cael admits she had a Taylor Swift phase, her musical idols have always been Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. She plans to attend PSU and may pursue a career in medicine, but hopes to keep performing music by her idols indefinitely

Amelia Kotamarti is a 16 year old flutist at Grant High School, who plays with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and her high school Wind Ensemble. Amelia spoke with Raúl Gómez about how music has been a part of her life since before she can remember, and how she attributes her love of music to her mom. Since she started playing in fourth grade, Amelia has participated in district and state Solo and Ensemble competitions, played in the pit orchestra for Grant's spring musical, and picked up a love for choir as well. Amelia also loves the STEM field and would love to pursue a career in health science, while keeping music an integral part of her life.

Christa Wessel speaks with 15-year-old violinist Mindy Moradi about perseverance, about playing with adults in the Westside Community and Youth Orchestra, and about what music does to her brain.