All Classical Radio | On Deck with Young Musicians

Ishan Ghosh is a 16-year-old junior at Westview High School. He is a highly accomplished oboist and violinist who plays with Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s top ensembles: Symphony Orchestra (oboe) and MYSfits (violin). In this episode of On Deck, Ishan chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his beginnings in music, learning to play the tabla and being immersed in classical Indian music before learning h...

Claudio Chung is a 17-year-old pianist at Lakeridge high school. He is a student of Linda Barker and a recent winner of Cognizart's Young Artist Debut Competition . You can hear him along with the five other winners of the competition on November 18, 2022 at The Reser in Beaverton. At the tender age of five, Claudio embarked on his musical journey. On top of playing the piano, he also studied the...

Eliana Choi is a senior at Lake Oswego High School who has been playing the piano since she was five years old. In this episode of On Deck, Eliana speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her experience becoming one of the winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut! Competition, and how she’s using her music making to bring joy to people in senior living homes. Eliana is currently a student of Linda Bark...

Kristen Kim is a 13-year old cellist and the youngest winner of a spot on this year’s Young Artist Debut concert (November 18th at the Reser in Beaverton). While she enjoys reading and cooking, most of Kristen’s time is dedicated to music. She plays in 3 ensembles with the Portland Youth Philharmonic and is also a mentor for PYP’s Young String Ensemble. Kristen’s older sister Ellie will also be pe...

Violinist Timothy Lee, 17, chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his musical journey and how he is giving back to the community through not one, but two non-profits. As one of this year’s six winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut competition, Timothy is grateful for the opportunities he has had so far. That is why he started Gratis Music (gratismusic.org), which donates violins to children in unde...

Amy Faust gets to know Ellie Kim, one of this year’s six winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut competition. A junior at Westview High in Beaverton, Ellie has been playing violin since age 5. With her younger sister, Kristen Kim, also being recognized by Cognizart this year for her cello playing, it’s surprising to hear that Ellie’s parents aren’t musicians themselves, but just wanted their dau...

Clara Dyson is an 18-year-old oboist who recently graduated from Ashland High School and is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio. In this episode of On Deck, Clara chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her experience growing up in Ashland, playing in youth orchestra and transferring skills learned in music to other aspects of her life. While she is not fully decided yet, Clara plans to major in a STE...

Cami Arbella spews inspiration in every word she says. This talented and heartwarming 16-year-old cellist is a student at Jefferson high school and has a 4.0 GPA. A proud Cuban American, Cami is bilingual in Spanish and English. She’s been in BRAVO Youth Orchestras since its conception in 2013. Cami now serves as a high school mentor for BRAVO’s younger students and is a member of the BRAVO Commun...

Amy Faust chats with Ayush Wynkoop about music, cooking, and….trains! A rising junior at Valley Catholic High School, Ayush plays flute with Metropolitan Youth Symphony, flute and piccolo with the Westside Youth & Community Orchestra, and saxophone with his high school band. As passionate and dedicated as he is to music, he also loves everything about trains: reading about them, riding them, photo...

“It is very much a part of me.” That’s how 16-year-old George Miller describes his relationship with music. This pianist and multi-instrumentalist is a student at Rex Putnam HS, and in this episode of On Deck, he describes to Raúl Gómez-Rojas how music served as a safe space for him after personal struggles when he was only 8 years old. Thanks to the help of Play It Forward, which provided George...

Isaac Schultz is a 17-year-old violist with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. In this episode of On Deck, he chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his involvement with PYP, his passion for orchestral and chamber music, and other passions such as baking. At school (Northwest Academy), Isaac is also involved in theatre productions and musical theater.

14-year-old Daphne Tran shares with us her fascinating life with the harp. In this episode of On Deck with Young Musicians, Daphne opens up with Adam Eccleston about her musical inspirations, the different styles of harps, and even shares two of her hidden talents with us.

Benjamin Hosking is a nineteen year-old flute player living in Lake Oswego. In this episode of On Deck, Ben speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about moving to the U.S. from New Zealand when he was 10 years old. Soon after, he discovered music in his elementary school and immediately gravitated towards the flute. Ben is currently a second-year student of Flute Performance at Portland State University und...

Amy Faust covers a lot of musical territory with 16 year-old clarinetist Joseph Baik, who will be performing a solo piece at Carnegie Hall this fall. While he loves classical and contemporary music, he is also a passionate fan of hip hop, fashion, and swimming, which he does competitively. This combination keeps him so busy that he says he can literally fall asleep anywhere. Joseph's parents both...

Klara Kjome Fischer, 18, is a recent graduate of the IB program at Cleveland High School and a violinist with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In this episode of On Deck, Klara speaks with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her experience learning, rehearsing and performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 with MYS. In the fall, Klara plans to attend Carleton College, where she will not major in music, but hopes to...

In this episode of On Deck, 16-year-old violinist Derek Choi chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about his beginnings in music, playing piano and classical guitar before he ever picked up a violin. Starting a couple of years ago, a shift in his approach to competitions enabled him to start cultivating prizes more consistently: In the spring of 2022, Derek was a winner of the MetroArts Young Artists Debut...

Amy Faust gets to know Koharu Sakiyama, a composer whose piece “Untold Tales,” a collaboration with local young poet Laila Vickers, just premiered at the Metropolitan Youth Symphony‘s spring concert. Koharu, who also plays violin with the Portland Youth Philharmonic, alto sax with her high school band, as well as the Japanese koto, has won or been recognized by numerous composers’ competitions. He...

In this episode of “On Deck,” Margot chats with Raúl Gómez-Rojas about her artistic journey, as well as her leadership roles in her school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance and the program “No Place for Hate,” which seeks to combat discrimination in schools through peer-based education.

15-year old high school sophomore Lorelei Gorton loves the term ‘artist’ because of its range, and that’s exactly how she describes herself. She’s primarily a dancer and musician, but she also has a passion for writing, singing, acting, and visual art. That’s why she loves being able to go to the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton. In this episode of “On Deck” Lorelei tells Christa W...

Adam Eccleston shares a heart-to-heart moment with flutist and All Classical Portland Young Artist Ambassador, Diego Fernandez. This joyous junior of South Salem High School has already contributed much to our greater Portland community. Diego is a well-rounded musician supporting works of modern living composers of diverse background. He has aspirations to become a leading professional flutist in...

Amy Faust chats with Joey Young, a senior at Mountain View High School in Vancouver. After picking up a viola for his school music program in the 5th grade, Joey's love of classical music led to an interest in composing, which he has been doing now for several years.

Christa Wessel chats with Paul Zupan. A sophomore at Franklin High School, Paul loves nothing more than being with friends in band (Paul plays saxophone) and in the Pacific Youth Choir (Paul sings bass). Paul has been making music since 5th grade, but says it has only gotten more difficult the older they get. When Paul is not making music, which is most of the time, they enjoy computer coding.

Amy Faust gets to know Cael Farrow, a senior at Grant High School in Portland and a passionate advocate for classical music. Cael started playing the cello at age 4, and very soon was entertaining crowds at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, playing for tips while sitting in her car seat. Now a member of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Cael is their principal cellist and studies with Hamilton Chaefet...

Amelia Kotamarti is a 16 year old flutist at Grant High School, who plays with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and her high school Wind Ensemble. Amelia spoke with Raúl Gómez about how music has been a part of her life since before she can remember, and how she attributes her love of music to her mom. Since she started playing in fourth grade, Amelia has participated in district and state Solo and...

Christa Wessel speaks with 15-year-old violinist Mindy Moradi about perseverance, about playing with adults in the Westside Community and Youth Orchestra, and about what music does to her brain.