Young Artists

YOUNG ARTISTS

Terry Blair, Presentations Chairman

902 Gaslight Dr

Springfield, MO 65810

blair.terry@sbcglobal.net

NFMC is proud to list the outstanding winners of Young Artist Awards selected in 2025. For more information on booking these winners please contact Terry Blair listed above. If you are interested in having a Young Artist perform you can download the Young Artist Inquiry form here.

Misha Galant, piano

Born into a family of musicians, Misha Galant began piano lessons at the age of six with his mother, Olya Katsman. During high school, he received guidance from Sharon Mann and Yoshikazu Nagai of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He went on to graduate from Columbia University, where he studied piano with Joseph Kalichstein through Columbia-Julliard Exchange, while also earning degrees in Data Science and Russian Literature. In 2023, he earned a Master’s in Piano Performance under Dr. Viktor Volkov, followed in 2025 by a Master’s in Atmospheric Sciences with Dr. John Horel at the University of Utah, where he completed a thesis on evaporation dynamics in the areas surrounding the Great Salt Lake. Other formative teachers include Tatiana Zelikman of the Gnesin School in Moscow and Dr. Yu-Jane Yang of Weber State University in Utah.

Misha gave his first full solo recital at age 12 and made his orchestral debut at 13, performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He has since performed with the Fort Worth Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, and the California Youth Symphony, touring with the latter in Austria and Italy in performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. He is a prizewinner of the inaugural Van Cliburn Junior Competition (2015), as well as the Gina Bachauer and New Orleans International Piano Competitions (2024). From 2015 to 2020, he performed extensively across California as a member of the MTAC’s prestigious Young Artist Guild and was named one of two Gilmore Young Artists in the U.S. in 2020. Additionally, Misha is an avid chamber musician and enjoys performing benefit concerts for retirement communities and charitable causes.

Misha’s – YouTube Channel

Repertoire list

William Suh, Cello

Cellist William Suh has been recognized for his engaging musicianship, dynamic tonal color and artistic sincerity in concerts across the United States, Asia, and Europe. A recipient of the Aldo Parisot Prize and the Broadus Erle Prize from the Yale School of Music, Suh was awarded first prizes at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Competition, the 57th Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards, the 50th Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, New England Conservatory Concerto Competition and the Music Teachers National Association String Competition. Suh also holds top honors from the New York International Artists Association and Hellam Young Artist competitions. A recipient of the Young Artist Award from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Suh’s performances have been featured on WQXR, WMFT, and National Public Radio.

Recent and upcoming concerts include solo appearances with the Savannah Philharmonic and Lowell Chamber Orchestra, along with recital engagements presented by the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts (Chicago, IL), the Friends of Classical Music series (Greenport, NY), and the St. Botolph Club Foundation (Boston, MA), where he was recognized with the 2025 Emerging Artist Award. Notable past performances include appearances at the Art Live Theater International Hall in Kyoto, Japan with the Kyoto International Music Festival Orchestra, the Paesaggi Musicali Toscani festival in Val d’Orcia, Italy, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Suh has also appeared as a soloist with the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, and the New England Conservatory Symphony at Jordan Hall under the direction of Hugh Wolff.

Suh is an Artist Diploma candidate at The Juilliard School, where he serves as a teaching assistant to Astrid Schween. He holds degrees from the Yale School of Music (M.M., M.M.A.), New England Conservatory (B.M. with honors), and an Academy Diploma from the Colburn School. Suh’s current and former principal mentors include Astrid Schween, Natasha Brofsky, the late Joel Krosnick, Paul Watkins, Paul Katz and Clive Greensmith; he has also appeared in masterclasses with Marc Coppey, Frans Helmerson, Steven Isserlis, Laurence Lesser and Truls Mørk. An advocate for the democratization of music education, Suh manages partnerships and program operations for CelloBello. He performs on a 1913 cello by Carl Becker Sr. on generous loan from the Colburn Collection.

For more info, visit http://williamsuh.com/

R epertoire list

Claire McCahan

Claire McCahan is regarded as a musician of sincerity and versatility, delivering compelling and honest performances across Baroque, recital, opera, and contemporary repertoire. Winner of the 2022 Joy in Singing International Art Song Competition and the 2022 NATS Artist Awards, Claire is an accomplished recitalist, devising programs revealing thematic connection across time and language. She was selected for the 2024 Inaugural Fellowship of the Song with the Cincinnati Song Initiative, working extensively with Margo Garrett. Along with collaborative pianist Barbara Noyes, she co-founded Horizon Duo, dedicated to creative programming of contemporary and classic repertoire. The duo made their New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 2023.

Praised for her interpretations of J.S. Bach, she is the winner fo the 2025 American National Oratorio Competition, an alumna of the American Bach Soloists Academy, and a featured soloist with the Boulder Bach Festival’s first commercial album. She is a recurring performer with the COmpass Resonance Ensemble and has performed in concert with the New England Conservatory Baroque Ensemble, and the Silesian Philharmonic. Recent stage credits include Arias Aloft with Boston Lyric Opera and Opera on Tap Boston, the American premier of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Sibella in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with Opera Saratoga, covering Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze de Figaro with the Handel & Haydn Society, and Orfeo in an adaptation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Renegade Opera. This summer, she joins the Glimmerglass Festival as a Residence Artist, performing Naomi/Betty in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and covering Mama Cordero for the world premier of The House on Mango Street. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and the University of Colorado Boulder.

For more info, visit clairemccahan.com

Repertoire list