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Christopher Zandieh

Christopher Zandieh

Winner of the 2018 MostArts Festival Young Pianist Competition and a $10,000 cash prize, Christopher Zandieh began his Suzuki piano studies at age 4 on Long Island, and, by age 6, enrolled at the School for Strings in NYC as a student of Marina Obukovsky. He is presently 14 years old, in his fourth year of study at the Juilliard School as a student of Ernest Barretta, and a 9^th-grade student at Syosset High School Long Island, where he is also the principal alto saxophonist in the Jazz Band. Christopher had his first performance at Carnegie Hall at age 6 and returned there three years later as the Grand Prix Winner of the Concert Festival International Competition. He has participated in several masterclasses within the past few years with renown pianists, including Lydia Artymiw, Andreas Klein and international virtuoso Lang Lang. In October 2014, Christopher was chosen from among 100 pianists as the featured soloist to perform for Mr. Lang as part of the international 101 Pianists Program at the Tilles Center on Long Island. In 2016, he was the 1^st prize winner of the Great Composers’ Competition, and, last year, was a semi-finalist in the Kaufman International Youth Piano Competition. In December 2016, Christopher was a featured soloist at the Piano Showcase in Rochester, NY, for the annual NYS School Music Association Conference. In the same month, Christopher won the annual piano competition at Juilliard’s Pre-College Division and performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony at Peter Jay Sharp Theater in Lincoln Center. A month later, he was chosen as a finalist for the Chappaqua Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Ensemble 212 Young Artist Competition, and the NY Chamber Players Orchestra Competition. Most recently, he was the 2^nd prize winner of this year’s Chappaqua Orchestra Concerto Competition. Last year, Christopher was the Grand Prize winner of the 2018 MostArts Festival, which has led to this year’s performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 at the 2019 opening Gala.

Christopher has participated in several masterclasses within the past few years with renown pianists, including Lydia Artymiw and Lang Lang. Besides his solo piano performances, Christopher is also a member of the Zandieh Trio, and the principal alto saxophonist at his school’s Jazz Band.