Kaelem Michel

Kaelem Michel, fourteen, resides with his family in Fayetteville, New York. Kaelem began playing the piano at age eight. He has been studying with Patricia DeAngelis since 2015 and more recently with Steven Heyman. He has been actively participating in masterclasses with Spencer Myer and Jon Nakamatsu. He attended Summer@Eastman Camp at Keuka College and Lyra Music Festival and Workshop at Smith College, where he received pre-professional training in piano and chamber music.

Kaelem won first place in the 2016 and 2018 Central New York Association of Music Teachers Advanced Piano Competition. In 2016, he also received high honors at both Nazareth College Piano Competition and MTNA Competition, New York State Division. In 2017, he won first place at Lyra Music Festival and Workshop in New York City as the youngest in Junior Division. In 2018, he won one of the top prizes at Thousand Islands International Piano Competition in Cape Vincent, New York. Kaelem made his orchestral debut as the winner of Onondaga Civic Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in 2017. He also performed with Symphoria as the winner of Civic Morning Musicals and Symphoria Concerto Competition in 2018.

He has given solo and clarinet-duet recitals with his younger brother at local venues including Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica. He also performed at Skaneateles Festival fundraiser night in the summer of 2018 and at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, California. As a result of participating in Lyra Music Festival and Workshop, he also performed at Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, New York.

He has been composing solo pieces for piano and duets with other instruments and has recently been working with Texu Kim, teaching professor of Music Theory/Composition at Syracuse University.

Aside from the piano, Kaelem enjoys biking, painting, and taking photographs.