Performance Today Names Young Artists in Residency for 2024/25

The five young artists will record performances for broadcast, as well interviewed by host Fred Child

The YourClassical broadcast Performance Today is one of America’s most popular classical music radio programs and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country,

Performance Today recently named the five young musicians who will take part in its Performance Today Young Artists in Residence program (PTYA). As part of the program, these musicians will be interviewed by Performance Today host Fred Child, and they will also perform for broadcast.

Bassist Nina Bernat (The Juilliard School) was the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant for 2023, and she also won the Elmaleh Competition of the Concert Artists Guild. plus the Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. A member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program, Bernat recently made her concerto debut with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Violist and VC Artist Emad Zolfaghari (Curtis Institute) recently became the first Canadian to win First Prize, as well as the audience prize, at the Primrose International Viola Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with several major orchestras.

Violinist Samuel Frois (Bard College) won the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation scholarship for four consecutive years and was recently awarded second prize in the 2023 Sphinx Orchestral Excerpts Competition. He is also concertmaster of The Orchestra Now.

Pianist David Lai (Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University) won Second Prize and the audience prize at the Boulder Bach Festival, as well as winning the Mozart Concerto Competition at Jacobs. He has been blind since birth.

Clarinetist Zhiwei "Victor" Ni (Eastman School of Music) was selected for the China Youth Symphony Orchestra (NYO-China) twice and toured Europe in this capacity. In 2020, Zhiwei won the second prize of the Vandoren Emerging Artist competition, and attended the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2024.

"For three decades, our Young Artist in Residence program has been a core of Performance Today’s annual activities," said host Fred Child. "So many past Young Artists have gone on to stellar careers as leaders in today’s classical music world."

"This year’s incoming group represents the best of the best of young artists from top conservatories around the country. I can’t wait to share their talent and their stories with listeners, who will get to meet future classical stars in this season’s broadcasts."