Marianne Liberatore Instrumental Competition

Emma Maini, 16, is a junior at Rye Country Day School and an avid chamber music enthusiast who finds connection across the world through her love of music. She began studying music at age seven and soon after worked with Asya Meshberg, where she developed a deep understanding of chamber music and refined her quartet skills. In 2020, she founded the Phillip String Quartet with her closest friends. In 2019, Emma and her brother, Ayush, co-founded Children Helping Children, an annual benefit concert that brings together gifted young musicians to share their love of music while supporting children both locally and globally.

Emma has won numerous competitions and has performed at Carnegie Hall and with the Symphony of Westchester in 2021 and 2025. She also teaches at the Young Artists Philharmonic (YAP) in Greenwich. Currently, she attends the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School, where she studies under Elizabeth Chang and Lucie Gelinas.

Outside of music, she enjoys sketching, experimenting with new pastry recipes, and—most importantly—eating them.

Giora Nadav, a 9th grader at Trumbull High School, is a young pianist dedicated to the mastery of performance nuances. Currently studying with Dr. Yiheng Yang, Giora’s foundation was built through early studies with his father and has since evolved through masterclasses with world-renowned faculty from the Curtis Institute of Music and Seoul National University.

A frequent laureate of major competitions—including the Ocean Music International Piano Competition, Connecticut State Music Teachers Association (CSMTA), Renee B. Fisher and the CT Schubert Club awards —Giora has performed on stages such as the Philadelphia International Music Festival. As he moves into the next phase of his musical development, he is actively pursuing advanced training within New York City’s elite pre-college programs.

Lina Elwood, 16, lives in Westport, CT and is a sophomore at Hopkins School in New Haven. She is currently studying the piano with Svitlana Fiorito and Vitaly Starikov. Most recently, Lina was named the winner of the Connecticut MTNA Competition and has been selected as a finalist to participate in the Emory University Young Artist Piano Competition in Atlanta. She has won top prizes at numerous competitions since she started piano at age 5, including Steinway Piano Competition, Chicago International Music Competition, Chopin Avenue International Piano Competition, ENKOR International Piano Competition, Renee B. Fisher Piano Competition, Schubert Club Awards Competition, among others.

In addition to her solo works, Lina has played with orchestras and chamber music groups around the world since she was very young. In 2025, Lina was named the winner of Norwalk Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition and Hamden Symphony Orchestra Young Musicians Concerto Competition, playing with both orchestras. As a top prize winner of Chopin Avenue International Piano Competition’s concerto category, Lina recently played with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Adam Klocek and with the K Novart Orchestra conducted by Jakub Zwierz in Poland. She has also enjoyed collaborating with fellow student musicians in chamber music groups and is currently a member of her school’s orchestra as a solo pianist and a teacher’s assistant.

Matthew Wang is a 17-year-old clarinetist living in Trumbull, Connecticut, and a student in the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he has studied with Ayako Oshima Neidich since 2022. He began learning the clarinet at the age of nine. He was named a 2026 National Young Arts Award Winner in Classical Music/Clarinet and was a finalist in the 2025 United States Navy Band Young Artist Solo Competition as the only clarinetist among six finalists. He was also an alternate winner in the 2024–2025 MTNA National Competition (Senior Woodwind, Eastern Division). He has performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Washington Navy Yard.

Robert Mays is a 16-year old cellist in his junior year at Trumbull High School. He has been studying cello for 7 years under Andrea Mills at the Suzuki School in Westport, CT. There, he also participates in the chamber music program and the string ensemble Vivace. During the summer, he has attended multiple music festivals including the International Cello Institute, where he opened for Brannon Cho’s Cello ICI recital in 2025. This past year, he was the assistant recording engineer on Andrew Smith’s upcoming album of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas.

Serena Li is a 9th grader from Scarsdale, New York. She currently studies at Juilliard Pre-College in the studio of Dr. Clara Minhye Kim. Serena started cello at the age of five with Maxine Neuman at Hoff-Barthelson Music School and was accepted into the Honors Program at the age of 9. She was also a piano student in the honors program there, studying with Rie Matsumoto.

She has been actively participating in various chamber ensembles and orchestras for the past few years at Hoff-Barthelson, the New York Youth Symphony’s Chamber Music Program and Juilliard Pre-College. She performed as a soloist three years in a row with the Symphony of Westchester as one of the prize winners of their Young Artists’ Competitions. Outside of music, Serena is passionate about art and math, and enjoys playing tennis.