33rd Annual Young Artist Competition: Honors Recital

Regine Lee (14) is a homeschooled ninth-grader from Mt. Dora, Florida. She began her violin studies with Olga Kolpakova at the age of 6 at the Saint Andrew’s Conservatory of Music and has received solo and concerto awards from the Florida Federation of Music Clubs Junior Convention (FFMC). She has participated in programs such as the MasterWorks Festival, the OPO Summer Music Camp, and the Stetson String Institute. She is in her second season with the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras (FSYO) and plays in the Saint Andrew’s Conservatory of Music Youth Ensemble led by Sharon Chang, as well as the Youth Choir there directed by Todd and Andria Alexander.

Matthew Phan of Jacksonville, Florida, is a senior at Bishop Kenny High School. He currently studies piano with Peggy Edwards, and his former teacher is Mary Lou Krosnick. He is a two-time winner of the American Protégé Piano Competition and performed twice at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2020, he won the Florida MTNA Junior Piano Competition and Junior Chopin Prize. In 2022, he won the FSMTA Senior Concerto Competition, the Florida MTNA Senior Piano Competition and the Senior Chopin Prize, and the Senior Division of the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra’s John Leatherwood Concerto Competition, resulting in two solo performances with them in January 2023. In 2023, Matthew won the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Concerto Competition and as a result, soloed with the Jacksonville Symphony in May 2023. Also in May 2023, he won the FFMC Senior Concerto Competition, which earned him a nomination and reception of the Irene Muir Memorial Award. He also has participated in masterclasses, including one with Meng-Chieh Liu, and he enjoys playing for his school and church.

Elyse Schlesinger is a 16 year old French Horn player in the Chicagoland area. She is Co Principal of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Allen Tinkham and is coached in a Woodwind Quintet (Windy City Winds) by Dr. Donald DeRoche and is a part of the CYSO Ambassador Program. Elyse has also attended many music camps and festivals, including ILMEA District 7 Band, ILMEA All State Honors Band, the ILMEA District 7 Orchestra, and the ILMEA All State Honors Orchestra. She also performed in the D211 Honors Band, Honors Chorus, and Honors Orchestra, in addition to the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp Masterworks Orchestra. She is also a current winner of the Fremd High School Concerto Aria Competition. Elyse currently studies with Melody Velleuer and CSO member David Griffin.

Quang Vo, a 17-year-old pianist from Vietnam, is currently a freshman piano performance major at Florida Gulf Coast University where he studies with Dr. Michael Baron. Mr. Vo was awarded a Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister of Vietnam, honored as “The Promising New Face in Culture and Arts of Vietnam”. During his studies, Mr. Vo has won many First Prizes and Special Prizes at domestic and international music competitions. His most recent competition win was the Kayserburg International Piano Competition where he was awarded first prize as the best pianist in Vietnam, and was given a piano as part of his award. He has also participated in many solo performances as well as performances as soloist with orchestras in Vietnam and Malaysia. Besides multiple performances in his native Vietnam, he has also performed in Thailand, Malaysia, China, Hungary, Germany, and the United States. He is well known for his brilliant facility, strong musical personality and his passion for also playing the violin and cello. He was recently chosen the winner of the Tampa Bay Symphony Competition. He was also awarded First Place in the state of Florida Senior Piano by the annual Music Teachers National Association Competition.

Caroline Dratnal, 20, is a sophomore in Dr. Roberta Rust’s piano studio at the Lynn Conservatory of Music. A native of Calgary, Canada, she is a graduate of the acclaimed Young Artist Academy at the MRU Conservatory, where she received many diverse musical influences. Caroline has successfully participated in numerous competitions, advancing to the Provincial and National levels in the Calgary Performing Arts Festival, Canadian Music Competition, Canadian Contemporary Showcase, most notably winning the 2020 Calgary Concerto Competition and making her orchestral debut with the Calgary Civic Symphony in 2022.During her freshman year at Lynn, Caroline was named a runner-up in two FSMTA competitions – Gray Perry Collegiate for solo piano, and Byrd Memorial for piano duet.

Coming from a family of musicians, Elizabeth Milan has been playing the violin since 3 years old and piano since the age of 4. Over the course of 10 years, she played in various youth orchestras including the Tampa Metropolitan Youth Orchestra and the Pinellas Youth Symphony, where she held the position of Concertmaster in 2021. In 2022, she performed the first movement “Allegro molto appassionato” from the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Pinellas Youth Symphony. Continuing her parents’ legacy, Elizabeth now attends Florida State University’s College of Music as a violin performance major, where she studies under Dr. Benjamin Sung. Elizabeth recently premiered Natalia Rojcovscaia-Tumaha’s “The Great Fantastic Ball” for violin and piano and plans to perform more new music in the years to come.

MICHAEL ISAAC RIPPLE is the Co-Artistic Director and Chief Operating Officer of The Horizon Series, a chamber music series in Washington, D.C. and summer festival in Erie, Pa. He is an in-demand teacher and chamber musician throughout the Mid South region, currently based in Memphis, TN. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where he pursued his undergraduate degree in oboe performance as a student of Mr. Frank Rosenwein. He is also a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, as a student of Mr. Daniel Stolper. He was the founding oboist of Catharsis Winds, an international and national award winning wind quintet based in Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently pursuing his Masters in oboe performance as the student of Dr. Michelle Vigneau at the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. At the University of Memphis, he holds the oboe seat in the Pyramid Winds Graduate Woodwind Quintet.

Anne Elise Teeling is a charming, captivating, and creative coloratura soprano based in Tallahassee, Florida. She studies voice under David Okerlund at Florida State University. Frequenting the stage, she has appeared in featured roles with Opera in the Ozarks, the FSU Opera Department, Northwestern Opera Theatre, and Chicago Summer Opera. Most recently, she appeared as Eurydice in Opera in the Ozark’s production of Orphée aux enfers. Previous credits include Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the FSU Opera Department, the title role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Chicago Summer Opera and Flora in Britten’s Turn of the Screw with Northwestern Opera Theater. Well suited to the concert stage, she recently appeared as the soprano soloist for the Tallahassee Community Chorus’ performances of Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Equally comfortable with chamber work, she has performed in multiple concerts – most notably appearing in performance with FSU’s Collegium Musicum as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Anne Elise is originally from Des Moines, Iowa.