THE STORY: APRIL 2026

SPRING SEMESTER: JANUARY 4 - MAY 2

On April 25th and 26th, NMS hosted our 2026 Spring Juries. Our faculty chose 12 students for Showcase based on their jury performances and 5 for their competition wins throughout the semester. 15 additional students received an Honorable Mention. Congratulations to all of our students who participated - it was a great day of music making!

Showcase Spring 2026

The Spring 2026 Showcase Recital will be held Sunday May 3rd at 5:00pm in our Concert Hall at 900 N. Michigan Ave. Please join us in celebrating our students!

Congratulations to the students who were nominated for Showcase for their outstanding juries and Spring Competition wins:

• Elena Bai, violin — s/o Emily Fischer

• Felix Calegari, voice — s/o Scott Ramsay

• Zoie Gosiene, violin — s/o Yuriy Geyer

• Annikki Jurva, flute — s/o Steve Yepez

• Eli Kramer, guitar — s/o Casey Nielsen

• Arinav Kutty, violin — s/o MingHuan Xu

• Penelope Mendez, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko

• Daniel Razminia, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko & Mary Sauer

• Jonathan Truong, piano — s/o Winston Choi & Wenting Shi

• Waverley Van Buskirk, viola — s/o Timothy Hager

• Andrew Velleuer, cello — s/o David Cunliffe

• Reagan Young, piano — s/o Matthew Lorenz

• Rebecca Zhao, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko

• Noemi Ciborowski, piano — s/o Clinton Velman

  • selected for winning a Gold Medal at the 2026 CAMTA Sonata Festival

• Ken Gallwas, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko & Mary Sauer

  • selected for winning the piano division of the DePaul National Concerto Competition for Young Performers

• Leo Ma, violin - s/o MingHuan Xu

  • selected for winning the 2026 Chicago Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition

• Mika Matsuyama, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko, coached by Sean Bennett

  • selected for winning a Gold Medal at the 2026 CAMTA Sonata Festival

• Anika Sadanand, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko

  • selected for winning a Gold Medal at the 2026 CAMTA Sonata Festival

Honorable Mention Spring 2026

These students made quite the impression during their jury performances:

• Sophia Gao, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko

• Arianna Ha, piano — s/o Frances Kennedy

• Victoria Zhang, piano — s/o Winston Choi & Wenting Shi

• Constantine Wang, piano — s/o Winston Choi, coached by Sean Bennett

• Tong-Bai Deng, piano — s/o Winston Choi & Sean Bennett

• Mika Matsuyama, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko, coached by Sean Bennett

• Zohair Abbas, piano — s/o Stefani Haas

• Mark Mykytsey, piano — s/o Anila Aliu

• Sonia Aravind, piano — s/o Jeffrey Panko

• Luna Zheng, violin — s/o Emily Fischer

• Kavya Subramanian, violin — s/o Emily Fischer

• Lucas Ma, guitar — s/o Casey Nielsen

• Ruby Larson, flute — s/o Steve Yepez

• Neysa Pandey, voice — s/o Michelle Hackman

With Appreciation

We are so proud of all of the hard work our students put in every semester, and thank our faculty and staff for their dedication to preparing the students for the opportunity. We also want to extend an enormous thank you to our piano collaborators Summer Baek, Jeffrey Panko, Frances Kennedy, Winston Choi, and Wenting Shi for supporting their students from the keys. And of course we cannot do it without the effort of our parents and families - we are so glad you trust your child’s musical education with New Music School. We look forward to all that our students will achieve next!

New Music School Events, Spring 2026

• May 1: Concerto Class - Strings/Winds with MingHuan Xu (7:00-8:30)

• May 3: Performance Class (4:00pm)

• May 3: Ken Gallwas (Soloist) with the Rockford Youth Symphony Orchestra (3:00)

• May 3: Showcase Recital (5:00pm)

• May 8: Concerto Class - Piano with Winston Choi (6:30-8:00)

• May 15: Concerto Class - Strings/Winds Recording Session (6:30-8:00)

• May 22: Concerto Class - Piano Recording Session (6:30-8:00)

• May 30: String Performance Class (12:00-2:00pm)

• May 31: Jury Make-up Day/Performance Class (4:00pm)

• June 5: Champagne Showcase (7:00pm)

• June 5: Concerto Class Rehearsal - Ganz Hall @Roosevelt (9:00am-5:00pm)

• June 6: Concerto Class - Ganz Hall @Roosevelt (12:00-4:30pm)

• June 6: StringStravaganza! - Ganz Hall @Roosevelt (4:00pm)

• June 7: Performance Class (4:00pm)
  
  NMS Academic Calendar available on google calendar here.