Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts Awards $20,000 to Aspiring Young Musicians

Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts held its 38th Instrumental Competition on March 30, 2025 at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music’s Barrett Hall. Eight finalists demonstrated their musical talents competing for monetary prizes totaling $20,000. The finalists, ages 17 and 18 are local high school students, coming from Los Angeles, San Marino, Diamond Bar, La Crescenta, and Castaic.

President of Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, Matt McIntyre, said it was thrilling to see the performances of such talented young finalists and touted the benefits of the competition. “This is the fourth year that we have held the competition for high school level students and it’s a great experience for these young musicians to play in front of a panel of professionals and receive their valuable feedback,” he said. “It’s such a tremendous opportunity and we really want to encourage our local high school level musicians to come and participate in a future Instrumental Competition.”

The panel of seven judges, professional musicians with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was led by Judging Chair, Cathy Karoly and included Marion Kuszyk, Akiko Tarumoto, Jenni Seo, Taylor Eiffert, James Miller and Christopher Still. Karoly has been a member of the LA Phil for 29 years and has judged several past Instrumental Competitions. She said she found the level of performances impressive and really moving. “They are all so disciplined and you can see the incredible hard work they have put into this competition.”

Jennifer Crastz, this year’s Chair of the Instrumental Competition, said she was very proud of the young finalists. “What strikes me every year is that the high school students are so well-rounded. They are performing at such a high level, while at the same time juggling a full course load, preparing for college, participating in multiple music groups in their schools as well as youth orchestras, and even volunteering in their communities,” she said.

The Grand Prize for “exceptional talent and musicianship” was awarded to Kimberly Tsou for her performance on the flute. The 18-year-old studies at the Colburn School and has played the flute since the age of nine. Her inspiration to play the instrument she says came after seeing a performance of Peter and the Wolf and “just fell in love with it.” Tsou is the principal flutist at the Pacific Academy Foundation Orchestra and the Orange County Youth Symphony. She also volunteers her time as a coach and sectional leader for the Da Capo, Allegro and Vivace ensembles. Her dream is to become a professional flutist. The prize money will allow her to travel to auditions and other competitions this summer.

Jasper Kugler, a 17-year-old tuba player from La Crescenta and a second-time finalist at the Instrumental Competition, took home the first prize in the brass category. Last year he won second prize. The Crescenta Valley High School student plays in his school’s symphony orchestra and is in the marching band. He also plays bass trombone and sousaphone, and in 2022 founded the Crescenta Valley Brass Quartet. Kugler trains at Colburn and is in the Colburn Honors brass Quintet, the Colburn Youth Orchestra, and many others. He loves “making music” and the sound of the tuba, and he feels “the tuba really fits his personality.” His dreams for the future include playing in a major orchestra and working on a movie soundtrack.

The first prize winner in the woodwinds category went to flutist, Enhan Li, an 18-year-old student studying at the Colburn School. Hailing from China, Li has performed in orchestras and chamber groups throughout the country and has earned numerous awards. He says he is very passionate about playing the flute and would like to be a soloist. He also loves playing soccer, running, and listening to pop music.

Sophia Leung, an 18-year-old violinist attending the Colburn School was awarded the first prize in the strings category. Born and raised in Hong Kong in a “musical family,” she says she started learning the piano but preferred the violin and has been playing for 12 years now. She has performed and competed extensively in Hong Kong and earned the position of concertmaster in three separate orchestras. For the last several summers she has studied at the Heifetz International Music Institute in Virginia. She loves studying music and learning about the various composers, and enjoys tennis and badminton.

The second-place prize in the woodwinds category went to Damian Silvera, a 17-year-old student at Castaic High School, for his performance on the clarinet. He has earned the coveted position of drum major in the marching band and clarinet section leader in the wind ensemble. He plays in the Kadima Senior Philharmonic Orchestra in the San Fernando Valley and has been invited to the William S. Hart District Honor Band repeatedly as well as the California All-State Wind Symphony and Golden State Band. An award-winning student athlete on the swim team, he is also fluent in several languages including German and Spanish. He plans to study music at UCLA and form an orchestra after college.

Yejoon Kwon, an 18-year-old violinist took second prize in the strings category. She attends the Colburn School after having attended elementary school in La Canada Flintridge and private music schools in Massachusetts and South Korea. Playing the violin since the age of 9, Kwon recently won the Charleston International Music Competition and the Seoul Nationwide Student Music Encouragement Competition. She was also featured in From the Top on NPR in 2023. Her plans are to continue studying music and form a string quartet. In her spare time she enjoys horseback riding.

An Honorable Mention went to 17-year-old Angela Wang, a student at Diamond Bar High School for her performance on the flute. Wang comes from a musical family and also plays the piccolo. She grew up listening to her grandfather play the flute and credits him for her passion for the instrument. “I was always intrigued when he played so he bought me my first flute when I was 6 years old,” she says. Wang is the principal flute in the Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, CBDA All-State Honor Groups, and SCSBOA All-Southern Honor Groups. She has also played in the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra and the Pasadena Youth Orchestra. In 2024 she won multiple awards including first prize in the Bach International Competition. An avid reader of classical literature and poetry, she also enjoys baking. She would like to pursue a career combining her passion for music and her interest in science.

Antonio Shyu also received an Honorable Mention for his cello performance. The 17-year-old student from San Marino attends Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and performs with multiple orchestras. He plays the piano and the violin but was so inspired after seeing a cello performance, that the instrument he says, “became his voice.” Shyu is a music instructor for both piano and violin and volunteers his time to tutor at local elementary schools. “I like teaching young children and want to inspire them to play music,” he says. He participates in Back to Bach and is one of the founders and currently the president of Love Through Music, a student-run volunteer non-profit organization that shares music with meaning to underserved communities.

Since the Instrumental Competition began in 1985, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts has awarded more than $700,000 in prizes to promising young music students. This year, Kathryn and Charles Hofgaarden generously underwrote the competition prize winnings. Funding for the Instrumental Competition, along with the organization’s Youth Concert, Music Mobile, and Gifts and Grants programs, comes from the highly successful Pasadena Showcase House of Design which celebrated its 60th anniversary earlier this year. For more information, visit pasadenashowcase.org.