Elijah Wen, 19, is a freshman at the USC Thornton School of Music under the studio of Ms. Bernadene Blaha. He studied piano with Dr. Judy Huang, Dr. Felix Tao Chang and Ms. Judith Moore. He was a 2018 MTAC State Panel Finalist, was ranked No. 1 as a member of the 2019-2024 Young Artist Guild program, the highest honor for any Certificate of Merit student in the state of California, and was a recipient of the prestigious $500 Nadenstadt scholarship. A prizewinner of multiple international competitions such as the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, SoCal International Piano Competition, James Ramos International Video Competition, United States International Music Competition, Glory International Music Competition, Vienna International Music Competition, and Elite International Music Competition where he was offered to play at Carnegie Hall. Elijah had the opportunity to host two 1-hour long piano recitals under the Young Artist Guild program, and was paid a total of $2,500 for his performances. All tickets were sold out for the first recital; audience members filled the seats and others were standing as there were no more spots left in the auditorium. He was an emergency performer for the second recital, given less than a week's notice but took time out of school to host this recital for a board meeting of teachers. He was nominated to be one of three OC Artists of the Year for the 2019-2020 year at his school. Determined and enthusiastic to contribute his musical talents back to society, Elijah has over a decade experience participating and leading senior housing performance recitals, and recently compiled with a group of internationally well-known young pianists to record pieces and release it to social media as a source of comfort and happiness for others amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Aside from piano, Elijah was a violinist in Irvine High’s Philharmonic Orchestra (the highest level orchestra offered his school) since freshman year, served as Second Principal, and was also chosen to be the Second Principal of the district wide IUSD Honor Orchestra.
The Firebird Suite: Danse Infernale, Igor Stravinsky, 4 minutes 47 seconds
Reflet dans l'eau, Claude Debussy, 5 minutes 2 seconds
Waltz from Faust, Franz Liszt, 10 minutes 22 seconds
