Congratulations to the following NBS students on their amazing achievements!
Don’t see your achievements here?
Message us at office@nbsmusic.com with a picture of your NBS student with their instrument, award, etc. and a list of their recent achievements.
Congratulations to Apollo Murray on being invited to join the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra for the 2025–2026 season! Apollo recently auditioned and earned a spot in this prestigious ensemble. We are incredibly proud of his outstanding achievement!
Kenny Mellon (CLARINET):
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- First Place, Tri-County Youth Festival Senior Winds Division
- First Chair, PMEA All state Orchestra
- Second Place, Delaware County Symphony Concerto Competition
- Second Prize, 9th Sidney Forrest Clarinet Competition 2024
Grace Liu (PIANO):
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- First Prize, Little Mozarts Competition 2025
Ian Hsu (CLARINET):
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- First Chair, American Music Abroad in Europe Tour 2025
Benjamin Vuernick (PIANO):
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- Gold, Bosendorfer Youth Music Festival at German Society of Philadelphia 2025
George Zhang (PIANO):
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- Second Place, Tri-County Youth Festival Junior Piano Division 2025
- Third Prize, West Chester University Pre-Collegiate Piano Competition Junior Division 2025
Timothy Gu (PIANO):
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- Gold, Golden Key Competition 2025
Jacob Irwin (PIANO):
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- Winner, Golden Key Competition 2025
Ronan Irwin (PIANO):
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- Winner, Golden Key Competition 2025
Chloe Chen (PIANO):
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- Honorable Mention, Tri-County Youth Festival Senior Piano Division 2025
Stella Kim (PIANO):
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- Winner, South Jersey MTA Technique Competition Division 1 2025
Jesse Paik (PIANO):
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- Winner, South Jersey MTA Technique Competition Division 2 2025
Helen Liang (PIANO):
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- First Place Perfect Score, Crescendo International Music Competition 2025
- Grand Prix, Rising Stars Music Festival 2025
- Texas State International Piano Festival at SNU in Korea
Quinn Wang (VIOLIN):
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- Second Place, Elite International Music Competition 2024
Jaden Tan (PIANO):
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- First Prize, Triumph Music Festival 2024
- Second Prize, BTHVN Wien 2024
- Fourth Prize, Salzburg International 2024
Levy Kovalchuck (VIOLA):
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- Honorable Mention, Tri-County Youth Festival Junior Ensemble Division 2024
- First Prize, Triumph Music Festival 2024
Vincent Gao (PIANO):
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- Winner, MTNA Senior Division 2024
- Second Place, Tri-County Youth Festival Senior Piano Division 2025
- Honorable Mention, West Chester University Pre-Collegiate Piano Competition Senior Division 2025
Emily Lu (PIANO):
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- Platinum Prize, Bach, Baroque & Beyond Concerto Competition 2024
- Honorable Mention, Tri-County Youth Festival Junior Piano Division 2024
- Honorable Mention, Tri-County Youth Festival Junior Piano Division 2025
Elaina Wang (PIANO):
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- Superior Rating, South Jersey MTA Fall Festival Audition 2024
Joanna Paik (PIANO):
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- Superior Rating, South Jersey MTA Fall Festival Audition 2024
- Gold, South Hersey MTA Technique Competition Division 5 2025
Katie Oh (PIANO):
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- Superior rating, South Jersey MTA Fall Festival Audition 2024
- Winner, South Hersey MTA Technique Competition Division 4 2025
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Congratulations to Alyssa Gabrilovich!
There are student competitions, and then there is the Van Cliburn Junior Competition! There are outstanding students, but then there is Alyssa Gabrilovich. There are students who practice a lot, but there is Alyssa who practices up to 6-7 hours per day… Bravissimo to Alyssa and to her amazing teacher Dr. Igor Resnianski!
We are thrilled and happy for Alyssa, who was selected to compete in the 2023 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. It is a privilege to be in the group of 24 competitors selected from 248 applicants from 44 countries around the world to compete this coming June.
Alyssa prepared 3 hours of music for the three rounds of the competition. She is running through each round of the program (1 hour each) for the Nelly Berman School community once a week to experience playing all of her pieces in a row without interruption. It takes tremendous focus and stamina! Part of her third round is to play all three movements of Edward Grieg Concerto in A minor with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra! This competition is equivalent to the Junior Olympic games and mostly likely much harder!
An impressive applicant pool of 248 young pianists from 44 countries submitted online applications that included 15- to 20-minute performance videos. The 24 competitors were selected through a two-step review process by screening jurors Greg Anderson, Lydia Artymiw, Kenny Broberg, Sean Chen, Alvin Chow, Lucille Chung, Alessandro Deljavan, Yakov Kasman, and Dominique Morel. From the same applicant pool, the Cliburn artistic staff chose the additional 14 participants based on their artistic promise, their expected benefit from taking part in the festival, and the contribution they would make to the diverse, collective group of extraordinary artists. This years Junior artists display impressive determination in their craftThe Cliburn looks forward to welcoming these impressive young artists to Texas this June.
Janina Fialkowska, jury chairman (one of the top pianists in the world)
Read more about the competition here and more about Alyssa here.
Suri Ahn (VIOLIN):
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- Assistant Concertmaster, Philadelphia Young Artist Orchestra 2022-23
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- First Prize, Crescendo International Music Competition 2023
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- First Prize, Opus Music Competition 2022, String Category IV, in PA. National Competition Qualifier.
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- Second Place, Tri County Youth Festival Junior Strings 2022
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- Second Place, Bucks County Youth Concerto Competition 2022
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- Honorable Mention, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute Ninth Annual Solo Competition 2023.
- Honorable mention, Tri County Competition Chamber Group 2023
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Joyce Chen (PIANO)
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- Superior, SJMTA Fall Festival Auditions at Rowan University 2022
Sophia Cui (PIANO)
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- Superior, SJMTA Fall Festival Auditions at Rowan University 2022
Michelle Dou (PIANO)
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- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
Torsten Fras (HARPSICHORD)
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- Accepted into Philadelphia Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra (PSCO) 2022
Alyssa Gabrilovich (PIANO)
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- Winner, Irving Ludwig Youth Competition 2021, Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra (Performed with the orchestra on May 1st, 2022)
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- Winner & Honorable Mention, YoungArts
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- Winner, PA state MTNA, senior piano
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- Winner, WCU Annual Pre-Collegiate Piano Competition, age 16-18
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- Winner, Warminster Young Artist Competition
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- Silver, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition 2021
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- Alternate, Eastern division MTNA
- Third Prize, XIII Chopin International Piano Competition, Hartford, CT, young artist category
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David Gartenberg (Violin)
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- Gold, COTA 2023
Yonatan Gartenberg (Violin)
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- Winner, Nelly Berman School of Music & Ambler Symphony Orchestra Collaborative Concerto Competition 2023
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- Platinum, COTA 2023
- Prysm Strings 2021-present
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Ethan Ha (PIANO)
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- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
Emma Heckman (VOICE)
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- Gold Prize, Celebration of the Arts Competition by Nelly Berman School of Music
Ian Hsu (CLARINET)
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- Gold Prize, Celebration of the Arts Gala Concert by Nelly Berman School of Music
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- Silver Prize, Golden Key International Music Festival
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- Honorable Mention, Tri-County Youth Music Festival (the only winner chosen in junior wind category)
- Principal Clarinet, Philadelphia Sinfonia Player Orchestra (orchestra performed at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia)
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Melina Intzes (PIANO)
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- Silver Plus, Celebration of the Arts Competition by the Nelly Berman School of Music
Claire Kim (PIANO & VIOLIN)
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- Accepted into Temple university’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians
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- Member of the Baroque Players Orchestra
- Platinum, 2023 Celebration of the Arts Competition
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Andrew Li (PIANO)
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- Second Prize, Tri-County Competition 2023
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- Winner, Ambler Symphony Concerto Competition
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- First Prize, 2022 Triumph Music Festival
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- Silver Prize, Intermediate Talent at the 2022 Amadeus International Music Awards (age 12-13)
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- Second Prize, 2022 New London International Music Competition
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- Second Prize, 2022 US New Star Piano Competition by Composer (Group I, Age 10-12, Chopin)
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- Third Prize, at 2022 MEDICI International Music Competition
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- Honorable Mention, 2022 Tri County Youth Festival (Junior Piano)
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- Honorable Mention, 2022 American Virtuoso International Music Competition
- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
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Botong Li (CLARINET)
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- Third Prize, 2022 American Virtuoso International Music Competition – Winds Young Artist Group A
- Accepted to Philadelphia Youth Orchestra
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Charlotte Li (PIANO)
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- First Place, Little Mozart – Crescendo International Music Competition: Winner Recital on Feb. 11th at Carnegie Hall
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- Gold, COTA 2023
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- Silver, AADGT International Young Gifted Musicians Festival “The Passion of Music 2023” (Recital at Carnegie Hall on April 16th)
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- Second Place, Elite International Music Competition; Winner Recital on Feb. 26 at Carnegie Hall
- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
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Emily Lu (PIANO)
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- GOLD, COTA 2023
Luke MacMullen (PIANO)
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- Superior, SJMTA Fall Festival Auditions at Rowan University 2022
Tobi MacMullen (PIANO)
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- Superior, SJMTA Fall Festival Auditions at Rowan University 2022
Pavan Mangalmurti (PIANO)
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- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
Kat Kat Moore (VIOLIN)
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- Second Prize, Triumph Music Competition
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- Concertmaster, 2021
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- Orchestra, Bala Cynwyd Middle School 6th Grade
- Orchestra, Prysm Strings Young Artists
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Apollo Murray (CELLO)
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- Gold Rating, Nelly Berman School of Music, Celebration of the Arts Festival (April 2021)
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- Silver Rating, Golden Key Music Festival (February 2022)
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- Winners Recital, Golden Key Music Festival, Carnegie Hall (April 2022)
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- Third Prize, Kol Nidrei (Bruch), Classical Music International Competition, International Youth Music Competitions (IYMC) age group 10-13 (June 2021)
- Honorable Mention, ODIN International Music Competition (Jan. 2021)
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Sasha Murray (PIANO)
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- First Place, Triumph Music Festival (2021)
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- Second Prize, Smederevo International Piano Competition (Piano IV Category)
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- Second Prize, Medici Music Competition (2022)
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- Second Prize, London International Music Competition (2022)
- Third Prize, US New Star Competition
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Katie Oh (PIANO)
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- Superior, SJMTA Fall Festival Auditions at Rowan University 2022
Angela Piao (PIANO)
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- Gold, COTA Solo Piano 2023
Aurora Shams (PIANO)
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- Superior, SJMTA Fall Festival Auditions at Rowan University 2022
Theo Silio (French Horn)
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- Delaware County Youth Orchestra
- Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra
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Ian Sun (PIANO)
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- First Prize, Vivaldi Competitions: Classical A
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- First Prize, Vivaldi Competitions: Sonata
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- First Prize & Excellence Nomination, Vivaldi Competitions: Young Artist Categories
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- Gold Award, Grand Metropolitan International Music Competition: Gold award (score of 93/100)
- Second Place, Opus National Competition: Piano, age 14-18 category
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George Zhang (PIANO)
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- First Prize, Crescendo International Music Competition 2023
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- Winner, Annual Westchester University Piano Competition
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- Winner, The Princeton Festival’s International Piano Competition 2022
- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
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Jeffrey Zhang (PIANO)
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- Superior, Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival Local Preliminaries 2022
Ryan Zhang (PIANO)
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- Honorable Mention, Tri County Youth Festival
Zoe Zhang (VIOLIN)
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- Honorable Mention, Tri County Junior Strings 2022