Music Teacher Gifts from 2024 Students, Ages 15 and 16

May 10

2024 Compositions by Ages 15 and 16 Entries - Volunteer Judges: Emily Singleton and Donald Sloan (with help from Paul Brody) 1st Place, Sky Yang; 2nd Place, Andrew Xu; 3rd Place Tie, Matthew Hodge and Campbell Leiloglou

Find compositions from ages 17 and 18 HERE, and from ages 10 to 14 HERE.

Ages 15 and 16 Compositions - listed below by composer in alphabetical order.

Music Gifts by Becky

<<== This is a link to just a few of my music gift creations. Please support my work with a purchase. WITH MY ART, I MAKE music books, note cards, shirts, posters, music stickers, music purses and so much more. Posters are great for music dorm rooms. You can even request a subject for me to paint, with a specific or a vague idea.

Anaya Brainch, “New Moon”

Anaya Brainch is currently a sophomore at New Trier High School in Illinois. She has been playing the piano since age six and has been composing her own pieces over the last two years. Anaya enjoys creating music and film and recently showcased her work that combined electronic music and video featuring haikus at a 6Degrees Composers concert in Chicago.

When she’s not playing music, Anaya enjoys dancing, filmmaking, reading, and competing on her school’s debate team. Anaya lives in Wilmette with her family including her parents, twin brother, younger brother, and cat named Giggles.

Cohen Brough, “Zimniy Zecher”

Cohen Brough lives in St. George, UT and is a 10th grader attending Crimson Cliffs High School. Cohen enjoys running and is a member of the Crimson Cliffs HS Cross Country and Track teams. He studies piano, voice, and musical composition and sings with the Crimson Cliffs High School Chamber Choir. Cohen loves rock climbing, reading, art, is fascinated with history, and enjoys traveling with his family.

Kai Cleverley, “Beauclair”

Kai is a sophomore highschool student. He plays percussion in the marching band, and enjoys playing piano and guitar. Kai plays on the high school tennis team and is an avid BBQ enthusiast. Kai enjoys creating songs on the piano. This is the first composition that he has written down.

Tyler Cummins, “Solstice”

Sarina Feng, “Dusk’s Descent”

William Gesler, “Alone in the Cold Woods”

William Gesler is a high school music composer who started composing at 13. His favorite pieces of music to listen to are the works of Chopin, Mozart, Shostakovich, Toby Fox, and Danny Elfman. His main learning focus and goal is to professionally compose music for video games and/or movies. Though he hasn’t won any awards, he appreciates the feedback given by participating in competitions. Most of all, he just likes to write music for the enjoyment of himself and others.

Matthew Hodge, “Sinfonietta”

Matthew asked that his composition not be posted since it is not a live recording.

Matthew Hodge (b. 2008) is a classical composer and musician in the mountains of central Virginia. Growing up with a musical mother who is a professional oboist, Matthew was exposed early to classical music. With the encouragement of his mother, he started composing when he was nine years old and was immediately enthralled by it. Since then, Matthew has been a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Junior Composition Competition in 2023, as well as having won the Young Talent Award and an Honorable Mention in the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition in 2022, first place in Music Teacher’s Gifts’ 10th Annual Youth Composition Competition in 2023, first place in the Wednesday Music Club’s composition competition in 2022 and 2024, and an honorable mention in the Virginia Music Teachers Association (VMTA) Senior Composition Competition in 2023 along with others.

In addition to his first commission, Hodge was given the opportunity to have a composition published when he was fourteen years old. He studies composition with Sheridan Seyfried, piano with Jeanne Jackson, and viola and violin with Johanna Beaver. He plays viola in the high school group of the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia (YOCVA), and piano and viola in YOCVA’s chamber music program where multiple compositions of his have been performed. Along with being a composer and musician, he is also a part time piano teacher. His passion is music, especially composition, with his compositions having been described as having “beautiful builds and decays” and “a beautiful atmosphere.” An important aspect of composing music to Matthew is to make it simultaneously beautiful to listen to and academically interesting.

Ethan Hsu, “From, Simple Times”

Ethan Hsu is a composer based in Philadelphia, PA. He writes in a variety of styles and instrumentations. Ethan's first full orchestral work, Fantasy for Orchestra was awarded "Outstanding Composition" during the 2023 PMEA Composition Program, which took place at the 2023 PMEA All-State Conference. Ethan's composition journey began at age 10, and now composes regularly during the year. He has been studying composition with Chris Rogerson since 2022, and formerly studied with Emily Cooley from 2019-2021.

Aside from composing, Ethan plays cello and learns under the instruction of Rachel Henderson Freivogel. He also participates in the Philadelphia Sinfonia and the Philadelphia Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra and participated in the Philadelphia International Music Festival for three years and has participated in PMEA District festivals. While not doing anything music-related, Ethan is a roller coaster fanatic and always looks forward to his next theme park visit.

Abraham Hu, “The Road”

Cynthia Liu, “Into A Faraway Land”

Asha Melvani, “Stages of Anger”

Campbell Leiloglou, “Georgics: I V”

Campbell Leiloglou is a sixteen-year-old homeschooled Junior who enjoys piano, reading, and drawing. He’s been a piano student of Dorothy Yan Halstead since age six. He always loved to experiment on the piano, but he started writing his music down in middle school. He is also a composition coaching student of Edna Longoria.

Campbell’s compositions have received honorable mention in the 2019 TMTA Original Composition Contest and first place in the 9th Annual Violettes by Becky Youth Music Composition Competition. His ensemble piece “Mesosphere” has placed 2nd in Texas in the 2023 NFMC Junior Composers Contest and 1st in state for TMTA. His solo piano piece “To Climb the Sky” received a rating of 1 at the city level and is currently competing at the state level for TMTA. The piece also received an honorable mention and $3000 scholarship award from Biola University.

Charlie Plante, “Con Mistero”

Ruoyao Wu, “Love Once Began”

Sky Yang, “Labyrinth”

Sky Yang is a 16-year old composer currently based in Toronto, Ontario, and is enrolled in the Arts Unionville piano program at Unionville High School. His works have been commissioned by the Arts Unionville program and have been performed at the annual Alchemy show at Flato Markham Theatre. He received 1st prize in the 2023 Youth Music Commision composition contest of Roy Thomson and Massey Hall, and in 2022, he received 2nd prize in the Society of Composers’ Pre-College College and Mentoring Opportunity for his orchestral work, Colourful Escapade. He has also won numerous awards as a pianist and public speaker at the Kiwanis Music Festival and North York Music Festival. At school, he is a member of numerous music ensembles, including the Unionville wind ensemble, piano ensemble, guitar ensemble, jazz choir, jazz quartet, symphony orchestra, and many more. He is also a member of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra where he plays traditional Chinese instruments, such as the erhu and suona.

Andrew Xu, “Nocturnality”