Concerto Competition
Read about the 2025 Competition finalists!
Congratulations to the GCTYO Principal Orchestra musicians who performed at the Final Round of the 2025 Concerto Competition in January. Winners Kyra Brown and Kazuho Yasuno each received a $500 prize and will each perform with Principal Orchestra at the GCTYO Spring Concert at The Klein Auditorium on May 18, 2025.
Pictured from left to right: Kazuho Yasuno (cello), Isabella Mariani (violin), Kyra Brown (cello), Jasper Gallas (cello), Josh Gibson (violin), and Matthew Pan (viola).
2025 Concerto Competition Finalists
Kyra Brown – Winner
Kyra Brown is a senior at New Milford High School. It’s her fourth year participating in both GCTYO and the Concerto Competition. She began studying cello at the age of 7 and quickly joined the local community youth orchestra. An active member of the Decatur, Alabama Youth Symphony and Chamber Ensemble, Kyra served as a mentor for other children beginning cello as part of a peer coaching program.
Full Bio
Kyra participated in “Cellobration” at the University of Alabama and was a 2020 finalist in the junior division of the Tennessee Cello Workshop in Knoxville, TN. Kyra joined GCTYO in 2021, performing with Principal Orchestra and Advanced Chamber Ensemble. She is also an accomplished pianist, composer, and vocalist. She has won recognition from the Alabama Music Teacher Association in both piano performance and composition and from the National Federation of Music Clubs in composition. She also participated in the Alabama All-State vocal festival in the Middle School Treble Choir and as Outstanding Accompanist for the entire festival. She also took part in the 2022 All State mixed choir, 2023 All State orchestra, and was principal cellist of the 2024 All State orchestra. In the summer of 2023, she served as the principal cellist in the Symphonic Orchestra at New England Music Camp and also performed many solo and chamber recitals while in attendance. In the summer of 2024, she attended the Brevard Music Festival, playing under world renowned conductors Ken Lam and Keith Lockhart. Kyra would like to thank her accompanist and piano teacher, Ray Pierpont, her cello teacher, Mary Costanza, and her wonderful family for their encouragement and support.
Kazuho Yasuno – Winner
Kazuho Yasuno, age 13, is an 8th grader at Amity Middle School-Orange and has been a member of GCTYO since 5th grade. Kazuho met the cello for the first time at age 2, watching the 2 Cellos on YouTube, and kept his passion until he began real cello studies at 5 years old with Silvio Interlandi. Since 2023, he has studied with Rebecca Patterson, principal cellist at New Haven Symphony.
Full Bio
In the past three years, Kazuho participated in Kirishima International Music Festival in Japan as the youngest master class student with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, a world-renowned Japanese cellist and the music director of Suntory Hall, and Kangho Lee, the dean of the music department of Korea National University of Arts. Kazuho said in a newspaper interview: “I want to be the best cellist in the world because nothing will happen unless I aim for it.”
At the end of 2024, Kazuho transitioned to a full-size cello, marveling at its responsiveness and how seamlessly it translates his physical movements into its expressive sounds. Through countless hours of introspection and musical exploration, Kazuho has cultivated a rich connection with his cello, allowing him to bring beautiful compositions to life with authenticity and passion.
Jasper Gallas
Jasper Gallas is a 16-year-old cellist who has been studying the cello with Sarah Shreder for six years. A junior at Fairfield Warde High School, Jasper participates actively in the school’s Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. He further contributes to the musical life of the school as an active member of Tri-M, the Music Honors Society.
Full Bio
Jasper’s commitment to music extends well outside of school. He has been an active participant in the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras (GCTYO) since 2019, participating actively in both the Quartet Program and the summer programs. In the 2022-2023 season, Jasper further expanded his musical experience by joining the Suzuki Music Schools. Further, he was accepted into the CMEA Western Regional Orchestras.
Joshua Gibson
Joshua Gibson began playing the violin at age 10, initially teaching himself before studying with Barbara DiFranco. He joined the GCTYO in 2019 and later studied with Bruce Sloat and Deborah Wong. Joshua participated in master classes with Midori (2020, 2023), the Villalobos Brothers, Chelsea Starbuck Smith, and Serena Huang.
Full Bio
Josh was a member of the 2023 Western Region Orchestra and the 2024 Connecticut All-State Orchestra, and was runner-up in the CIMF Concerto Competition both years. In 2023, he performed at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart in Harmony. In 2024, he attended Kinhaven Music Camp as concertmaster, leading the orchestra in The Planets by Gustav Holst. He was also concertmaster for the Charles Ives Music Festival in 2024. A student at Stamford High School and part of the International Baccalaureate, Joshua enjoys spending time with his family, attending concerts, listening to classical music, and playing volleyball with friends.
Matthew Pan
Matthew Pan is a senior at Fairfield College Preparatory High School. This is his second time competing in the GCTYO Concerto Competition. He started on the piano at age 3, then switched to the viola at 10. (His sister had already “taken” the violin.) Matthew started taking lessons with Shan Jiang at age 11. He has been with GCTYO for 5 years, progressing from principal violist of Concert Orchestra (now Virtuosi) to principal violist of the Principal Orchestra.
Full Bio
Matthew took part in CMEA Western Regionals in 2022, 2024, and 2025. During the summer, Matthew goes on trips with a small group, Chamber Music Institute, to play music for the public. His most recent trip was to Japan, where he played for the elderly, an elementary school, a day care, in front of a shrine, and for the general public. Matthew plans to pursue music as a minor in college.
Isabella Mariani
Isabella Mariani, age 14, is a 9th grader at Staples High School. She studies violin at the Suzuki School of Music Westport with Sarah Smale and previously studied with Dr. Rafael Videira. Isabella was Concertmaster of Sinfonia when she started with GCTYO. She plays in Suzuki’s audition-only Vivace ensemble and plays viola in her school orchestra.
Full Bio
Isabella has been selected for and participated in Suzuki’s Concerto and Aria for six years. Isabella qualified for CMEA Western Regionals every year that she applied. This year, she qualified for both CMEA Western Regional full orchestra and choir. She has taken violin master classes from Nuné Melik (through GCTYO) and nine time Grammy winner and Emerson String Quartet founder, Phil Setzer. In her early years, she played with the Fairfield County Summer Strings Orchestra. During the pandemic, she and her brother organized several “Make Music Feed” concerts to benefit CT Foodshare. In 2021, she participated in the Chamber Music Institute under the direction of Asya Meshberg. For the past two years, she attended the highest levels of the Ithaca Suzuki Institute. As an 8th grader, she helped found Bedford Middle School’s acapella club which was run by Christine Dominguez. Isabella is currently a member of the Staples Players, Staples Orphenians and the Wreckapellas. In her spare time, Isabella enjoys cooking, photography and napping.
The Adjudicators
Michael Stern
Conductor Michael Stern has long been devoted to building and leading highly acclaimed orchestras known not only for their impeccable musicianship and creative programming, but also for collaborative, sustainable cultures that often include a vision of music as service to the community. He is passionate about working with young musicians not only in music making, but also to incorporate the idea of “service” into their experiences as they become the artists and advocates of the future who will take classical music into the 21st century and beyond.
Stern is Music Director of Orchestra Lumos (formerly Stamford Symphony) and the National Repertory Orchestra, a unique fellowship program for aspiring young musicians, and whose alumni populate every major orchestra across the United States. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Kansas City Symphony where he just concluded his 19-year tenure and is Artistic Advisor of Iris Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee.
Full Bio
During Stern’s acclaimed tenure with the Kansas City Symphony, he and the orchestra were recognized for their remarkable artistic ascent, original programming, organizational development, stability, and extraordinary audience growth. The orchestra explored a wide range of repertoire and commissioned a number of new works and partnered with GRAMMY® Award-winning Reference Recordings for a collection of acclaimed recordings that includes commissions by American composers Adam Schoenberg and Jonathan Leshnoff as well as Gustav Holst’s “The Planets”; and works by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Bartok and more.
Stern co-founded Iris Orchestra in 2000 and was Founding Artistic Director and Principal Conductor until 2021-22, when he had planned to step down from his post. With his departure, staff, community and musicians joined together to reinvent the orchestra as the Iris Collective, devising a new way for a 21st-century organization to offer a spectrum of events, from chamber music and smaller ensemble programs to full orchestral performances, teaming up with a number of creative partners, including Stern who continues his involvement as Artistic Advisor.
North American conducting engagements for Stern have included the orchestras of Boston,Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the National Symphony. He debuted with the New York Philharmonic in 1986 in a program titled, “Leonard Bernstein and Three Young America Conductors” and has conducted them several times since. Internationally he has led major orchestras in London, Stockholm, Paris, Helsinki, Budapest, Seoul, Israel, Moscow, Taiwan, and Tokyo. Stern has been Chief Conductor of Germany’s Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon in France, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille, France.
Stern received his music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and is a 1981 graduate of Harvard University.
Dr. Nicholas Hardie
Third generation professional musician and educator, Nicholas Hardie, has always been surrounded by music, beginning the cello before the age of three. An avid chamber musician, Nick was shaped by his apprenticeship with the world-renowned Takacs Quartet and mentorship by the Juilliard Quartet. His wide range of professional chamber music engagements have included the Aspen Music Festival’s Winter Series, numerous broadcasts on WBUR Boston through the Marsh Chapel Cantata Series, the Bravo! Vail Chamber Music Series, and Peabody Conservatory and Boston University’s Faculty Chamber Music concerts. Nick has also soloed with orchestras across the country, often taking on larger and lesser performed masterpieces including Strauss’s Don Quixote, Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and Shostakovich’s Concerto No.1.
Full Bio
A resident of Connecticut, Nick performs locally as principal cellist of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, recording multiple albums and music videos under Eric Jacobsen, working with premiere artists including Gil Shaham, Yuja Wang, and members of the Silkroad ensemble, and soloing with the orchestra in 2024. As principal of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra since 2014, and founding member of the RSO Quartet, Nick has performed with Edgar Meyer and Zlatomir Fung, and has helped shape a creative Chamber Music series in collaboration with the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum pairing creative programming with an ongoing series of exhibited artists.
A dedicated and passionate educator, Nick teaches cello, chamber music, and advanced performance techniques through the Greenwich Suzuki Academy, a program of 140 students he directs hand in hand with his wife, Heather Hardie. Nick previously taught on the faculty of Peabody Preparatory and as a long-term substitute for Manhattan School of Music Precollege, in addition to teaching/conducting through the orchestral program at Boston University.
Nick holds a Doctorate in cello performance from Boston University, a Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, a Graduate Quartet Residency at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Bachelor of Music from Baylor University. His primary cello teachers have been George Neikrug, Alan Stepansky, and his father, Gary Hardie, and has done significant studies with Joel Krosnick, Darrett Adkins, and Judith Glyde, though the full list of influences he holds dear is too long to list.