Sami Gershenhorn
Pianist. Composer. 10th Grader.

As a child, music reached Sami on a deeply emotional level. Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (which he calls his superpower), Sami’s ability to hyper-focus translated to him creating classical children's pieces on piano. This rare gift led Sami’s parents to enroll him in New Music School, with its Founder, Francisco Ybarra as his teacher, along with Mary Sauer (Retired Principal Pianist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Since then, Sami is diligently working towards a life in music as a pianist and composer. 

By six, Sami was learning complex works, including movements from Bach's Goldberg Variations. To date, he has performed in London, New York City, Miami, and Chicago. Recently, he was awarded the Judges Distinction Award for the 2021 American Protege International Concerto Competition, and won the 2021 NMS Concerto Competition with Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, and received an Honorable Mention for his performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 at Depaul University's Concerto Festival and has been invited to premier a new composition by renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas. In 2020, Sami performed the first movement of Prokofiev's 1st Piano Concerto with the Chicago Arts Orchestra, made his radio debut on WFMT 98.7 as a soloist and on July 4th was featured as an American composer, alongside some of the great American composers over the last 200 years, performing Emotions on a COVID 19 Lockdown, and invited to perform in masterclasses with Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne. In 2022, Sami had the honor of performing at the Winners Recital in Carnegie Hall in NYC. 

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