Concert Artists Guild (CAG) is committed to supporting musicians who are ready to launch their careers on the national and international stage. Through their annual Elmaleh Competition, CAG seeks exceptional instrumentalists, ensembles, and singers who are also thoughtful citizen musicians and have a commitment to connecting their music to the greater world.

Come join us and hear thrilling performances from this year’s ten inspiring finalists. Winners receive management contracts, a New York showcase performance, professional career development and coaching, and access to CAG’s Citizen Musician Bootcamp. The Grand Prize Winner will receive international management jointly with CAG and their London-based partner, Young Classical Artists Trust.

Get in on the action! Pick up a ballot at the start of the first session, and if your top choice aligns with the winners our jurors select, your ballot will be included in separate drawings that night for 2 subscriptions to our 2023-2024 Music Speaks concert series at Merkin Hall one free ticket to a CAG special event or a lunch with one of the winners. Your vote will also determine which of the winners will be the recipient of the Audience Prize!

Event Details

Finalist Performances Session One | 4:00-5:45 PM EDT

Charles Overton, harp

Joshua Brown, violin

Stanton Street Duo, harmonic and guitar duo

Njioma Chinyere Grevious, violin

Dior Quartet, string quartet

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Session Two | 7:00-8:45 PM EDT

Abeo Quartet, string quartet

Sophia Bacelar, cello

Nathan Meltzer, violin

Nina Bernat, double bass

Best Friends Duo, violin and guitar duo

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Finalist Q&A with the Audience | 8:45-9:30 PM EDT
moderated by Cate Smit

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Announcement of Winners | 9:30 PM EDT

Reception to Follow

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FINALISTS:

Sophia Bacelar, cello

website: https://www.sophiabacelar.com/

As a performer, producer, communicator, creator, speaker, and educator, CubanChinese musician and interdisciplinary artist Sophia Bacelar combines her background as a classically trained cellist with a passion for technology, innovation, storytelling, and change to create works and experiences for the contemporary culture. Through music, art, and film, she activates spaces, brands, and ideas in the physical and digital world. Her performances and work are acclaimed for their expressivity and disruptive, exploratory spirit and have been featured at Carnegie Hall, La Fondation Louis Vuitton, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA NY), The Fashion Institute of Technology, Lincoln Center, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Berliner Philharmonie, and Alice Tully Hall, to name a few. She is also highly committed to education and philanthropy and frequently contributes as a performer and consultant to raise money and awareness for various nonprofits and charities supporting education, climate change, LGBTQ+, women’s, and animal rights, AAPI and Hispanic heritage, and other causes she supports.

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Nina Bernat, double bass

website: https://www.ninabernat.com/

22-year-old double bassist Nina Bernat, acclaimed for her interpretive maturity, expressive depth and technical clarity, emerges onto the world stage with awards and accolades, thrilling audiences everywhere. This year, Nina is honored as a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Recent 1st prizes include the Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition, the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, the Juilliard Double Bass Competition, and the 2019 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition. Nina began her studies with her father, double bassist Mark Bernat. A recipient of the Kovner Fellowship, she continued her studies with bassist Tim Cobb and cellist Astrid Schween. She is currently completing her graduate degree at Juilliard. Engaged in all aspects of double bass performance, in 2019 she was invited to perform as guest principal bassist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, serving under the batons of András Schiff and Osmo Vänskä. This summer, Nina heads out to Vermont for her second season at both the 2023 Marlboro Music Festival and the Lake Champlain Music Festival.

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Joshua Brown, violin

website: https://www.joshuabrownviolinist.com/

Praised for his unique musical voice and instincts, Joshua Brown has found success in performances and competitions worldwide. In 2019, at the age of nineteen, Joshua won the Tenth International Violin Competition of Leopold Mozart in Augsburg, Germany, securing the First Prize, “Mozart” Prize, the Audience Award, the Chairman of the Jury Special Prize, the Kronberg Academy Special Prize, and the CD Production Special Prize. Additionally, in 2022, Joshua was named a prize winner of the 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Joshua has also enjoyed performing around the world. He was first recognized for his debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of fifteen, for which he received glowing reviews from critics. Following that debut, Joshua has gone on to perform regularly with orchestras in the United States and Europe. Joshua has performed at concert halls on three continents, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, both Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City, Severence Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, Symphony Center in Chicago, Arnold Katz State Concert Hall in Novosibirsk, Russia, Stiftung Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and Kongress Hall in Augsburg, Germany.

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Njioma Chinyere Grevious, violin

website: https://www.njiomagrevious.com/

Described as “superb” by the Chicago Classical Review, violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious is an emerging and versatile solo, chamber and orchestral musician and performer. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a winner of its John Erskine Prize for scholastic and artistic achievement. In 2023, Njioma won both the Robert F. Smith First Prize and the Audience Choice awards in the Senior Division of the Sphinx Competition and First Prizes for Performance and Interpretation in the 2018 Prix Ravel in Fontainebleau, France. As a Juilliard Gluck Fellow she performed regularly for the medically vulnerable, retirees and children. These days Njioma loves teaching composition and collaboration to NYC elementary and middle school students from underrepresented communities through the Opportunity Music Project. A founding member of the Abeo Quartet, Njioma is a graduate student of Ryan Meehan and the Calidore String Quartet at the University of Delaware where she is also a fellow in the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence Program.

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Nathan Meltzer, violin

website: https://www.nathanmeltzer.com/

Major prize winner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, youngest ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition, and recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, violinist Nathan Meltzer is establishing a holistic and multifaceted career as a soloist and chamber musician, with passions for both standard and contemporary repertoire. Nathan has performed as a soloist with numerous major orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre national d'Île-deFrance, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Finnish RSO, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Aalborg, Berlin, Charlotte, Concepción, Evansville, Indianapolis, Medellín, and Pittsburgh orchestras, among others, performing across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. As a chamber musician, Nathan has performed with celebrated musicians through the Parlance Chamber Concerts, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Kallos Chamber Music Series, the Terezin Music Foundation, Project Music Heals Us, the Heidelberger Frühling, and Midori’s Partners in Performance and more. He is also the Artistic Director of Opus Illuminate, a non-profit chamber music organization dedicated to the works of composers from historically underrepresented communities.

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Charles Overton, harp

website: https://www.charlesovertonmusic.com/

Equally at home in an orchestra or in a jazz club, it is the goal of Boston-based harpist Charles Overton, regardless of the genre of music, to create a musical environment that is accessible, exciting, and can resonate deeply with any audience. He began his harp studies at the age of ten under the direction of Lynelle Ediger, where as a member of her "American Youth Harp Ensemble'' he was afforded the opportunity at an early age to perform internationally in notable venues such as the Salle Gaveaux in Paris and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. As a jazz musician he has played in festivals abroad like the Harpes au Max festival in Ancenis, while locally frequenting jazz series like Jazz at Indian Hill, and Mandorla Music’s Dot Jazz Series. As a classical musician, he appears frequently with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with Boston-based ensembles the Walden Chamber Players, and Collage New Music, as well as at the Marlboro Music Festival.

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Abeo Quartet, string quartet

website: https://www.abeoquartet.com/

The Abeo Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2018, is the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet. Abeo's accomplishments include being among ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. The quartet was also a First Prize and Audience Favorite Prize winner in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles and Silver Medal winner of the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, both in 2022. Highlights of Abeo’s 2022-2023 season include performances at Music@Menlo, Schneider Concert Series, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and collaborations with members of the Calidore, Dover and Emerson string quartets. Abeo has also appeared at Alice Tully Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s masterclass series with the Danish String Quartet, and on WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces. The quartet chose the name Abeo / ah - bey - oh / — an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect — to reflect their love for playing chamber music and sharing it with others.

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Bestfriends Duo, violin and guitar duo

website: https://bestfriendsduo.com/

The Bestfriends Duo, comprised of international prize winning artists guitarist Tengyue (TY) Zhang and violinist Strauss Shi, captures the hearts of audiences through their unique violin-guitar music and their charisma, virtuosity and dazzling on-stage chemistry. The pair is quickly establishing themselves as an acclaimed rising violin-guitar star. They have each won multiple international awards, with TY Zhang capturing the Grand Prize at the Guitar Foundation of American International Concert Artist Competition (GFAICAC), and Strauss securing First Prizes at the USC Thornton Concerto Competition, Mondavi Center Young Artists Competition, and United States International Music Competition. Highlights of their 2022-2023 Season include making their acclaimed debut at the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, and they have been invited to make their upcoming debuts at the Festival Cultural Zacatecas (Mexico), Austin Chamber Music Festival, and Caramoor. The Bestfriends Duo is pushing boundaries and redefining the 21st century violin-guitar art form, presenting a new chamber music that is mixed-genre, multi-culture, and cross-era.

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Dior Quartet, string quartet

website: https://www.diorquartet.com/

Joined together from Israel, Korea-Canada, Saint Lucia, and the USA, the Dior String Quartet is the Quartet-in-Residence at the Glenn Gould School, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Silver prize winners of the 2021 Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition and Bronze Medalists of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, they formed in Fall 2018 at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University under the tutelage of Pacifica Quartet. They studied with members of the Alban Berg, St. Lawrence, Danish, Artemis, Ébene, and Belcea Quartets. The repertoire and projects they pursue intersect with their multicultural backgrounds and moral values, as they seek to explore the immigrant experience through art. The quartet takes their name from the French word “D’or” which means gold. It's a rare, elegant, and malleable element, precious to those who own it and often gifted to loved ones. Most importantly, gold holds the memory of the earth and absorbs the stories of the people who give it shape and form. 

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Stanton Street Duo, chromatic harmonica and guitar duo

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@stantonstreetduo6816/videos

Stanton Street Duo is a guitar and harmonica duo based in San Francisco, where they met at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The duo originated in 2021 after Tatiana gifted Roberto his first chromatic harmonica. Originally meant to be no more than a hobby, the harmonica soon became the voice that inspired them to pursue a new musical experience away from western classical music and the classical guitar. Both coming from a Latin American background, this duo focuses mostly on the musical traditions from Mexico to Argentina. Tangos, Boleros, Choros and Zambas are some of the musical styles explored in this duo combination. Much of the music they play consists of their own arrangements and original compositions. 

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Jury:

Kazem Abdullah, conductor

website: https://www.kazemabdullah.com/

American conductor Kazem Abdullah currently lives in Nürnberg, Germany. He was Music and Artistic Director of the City of Aachen, Germany from 2012 to 2017. During his tenure, he succeeded in reaching newer and diverse audiences through innovative programming and moving concerts into atypical venues. In addition to exploring new venues and experimenting with juxtapositions of styles, he also performed over 25 operas and collaborated with musicians such as Johannes Moser, Lise de la Salle, Angela Gheorghiu, Augustin Haedelich, and Midori.

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Jenny Bilfield, President and CEO, Washington Performing Arts

website: https://www.washingtonperformingarts.org/aboutus/leadership/

Jenny Bilfield, President & CEO of Washington Performing Arts, is an arts leader committed to nurturing both established and emerging artists and fostering unusual creative partnerships and collaborations, both within local communities and across the nation. Bilfield has been recognized with an ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award; the Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras; named among the 30 Key Influencers in the Arts: Movers and Shakers by Musical America; and has been recognized by Washingtonian Magazine among the Most Powerful Women in Washington.

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Adriaan Fuchs, Director of Festivals and Special Projects, Carnegie Hall

website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriaanfuchs

Adriaan Fuchs works as Director: Festivals and Special Projects at Carnegie Hall, overseeing the Hall’s annual citywide festivals along with various concert series and presentations. Prior to his time at Carnegie Hall, he served as Director of Artistic Planning and Touring at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Hailing from South Africa, his previous experience includes being Director of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival and Business Development Manager at Cape Town Opera. He obtained his BMus, MPhil, and MBA degrees all with distinction. John Glover, Director of Artistic Planning, Kaufman Music Center website: http://www.johnmakesnoise.com/bio.htm Described as “an unabashedly expressive composer,” (New Yorker) John Glover has created music for concert, opera, dance, and theater. He has received commissions from organizations including Houston Grand Opera, On Site Opera, Washington National Opera, American Conservatory Theater, Sasha Cooke, Adam Tendler and the Five Boroughs Music Festival. His work has been presented in venues ranging from Rockwood Music Hall to Carnegie Hall, The Invisible Dog to the Rothko Chapel. He serves as the Director of Artistic Planning at Kaufman Music Center in NYC.

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Shirley Kirshbaum, Founder and President, Kirshbaum Associates Inc.

website: https://www.kirshbaumassociates.com/agency.php?view=contacts

Shirley Kirshbaum founded Kirshbaum Associates in 1980 and has made it one of the country’s most respected independent classical music management and public relations agencies. Shirley is widely recognized for her integrity, expertise and collaborative spirit. She works with world-renowned artists and exceptional new talents, always committed to building successful, long-lasting careers for her artists. Beyond her role at the agency, she has been an active member of industry organizations for decades. Born into a musical family, she graduated with honors in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Gaetan Le Divelec, Vice President of Artistic Planning, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaetan-le-divelec-769a9281

Gaetan Le Divelec recently moved to the US to take up the role of Vice-President of Artistic Planning with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Prior to that, Gaetan was a Director at the London artist management agency Askonas Holt. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 1991, completing his training at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies and the Banff Centre for the Arts & Creativity in Canada. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2011 and was a Trustee of the Young Classical Artist Trust 2014-2022.

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Anne Akiko Meyers, violinist

website: https://anneakikomeyers.com/

Anne Akiko Meyers is one of the world’s most esteemed violinists and has been described as “a musical wizard, with astonishing access to every kind of expressive color." She regularly performs around the world as soloist with leading orchestras, in recital and is a prolific recording artist with over 40 recordings. A muse and champion of living composers, she recently premiered and performed Fandango by Arturo Márquez with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall and the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City to massive critical acclaim.

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Conrad Tao, pianist and composer

website: https://www.conradtao.com/

Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer and has been dubbed “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music” by New York Magazine, and an artist of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times. Tao has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony. As a composer, his work has been performed by orchestras throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic and the Antwerp Symphony.

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CAG/YCAT Staff Jury

Tanya Bannister, President, CAG

Chris Williams, Executive Vice President, CAG

Katie Backus, Vice President, CAG

Alasdair Tait, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Young Classical Artists Trust

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