Taylor Academy Students Take Top Prizes at OMNI Competition

Published on July 9, 2021

Strings students from The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists have taken a Grand Prize, two Firsts and a Second at the 2021 OMNI Music Competition.

Salma Khakimov, Grand Prize winner. Photo courtesy of the OMNI Music Competition.

The Taylor Academy dominated the Strings portion of the competition, with five of the nine Finalists. The event was hosted by Montréal’s Orchestre Métropolitain for emerging musicians between the ages of 7 and 17.

Salma Khakimov (violin), age 10, earned one of the competition’s three Grand Prizes, the Yannick Nézet-Séguin Prize, awarded to the overall winner of the Age 7–11 category and includes a $2,000 cash prize. Salma has been studying with Marie Bérard for the past two years at The Taylor Academy and was accompanied at the competition by her mother on piano. Watch her Grand Prize performance here.
Emad Zolfaghari (viola) won the Strings: Age 15–17 category. He will be attending the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music this fall, after studying with Theresa Rudolph at The Taylor Academy for three years. Watch his prize-winning performance here.
Jessie Sun (violin) won the Strings: Age 12–14 category. She has been studying with Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom for the past year, and her sister, violinist Yu Kai Sun, is an alumna of The Glenn Gould School. Watch her prize-winning performance here.
Evan Pyne (violin) won Second in the Strings: Age 15–17 category. He has been at The Taylor Academy for the past five years studying with Marie Bérard. Like Salma, his mother was his collaborative pianist at the competition. Watch his prize-winning performance here.

Violinist Nicolas Vasilakopoulos-Kostopoulos, from the studio of Jonathan Crow at The Taylor Academy for the past year, also performed in the OMNI finals. Watch his Finalist performance here.

Barry Shiffman, Director of The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, was thrilled to see the students perform so well at OMNI.

This wonderful event allows gifted young musicians the chance to share their talent in a friendly competition that creates a sense of togetherness. Much like the environment at The Taylor Academy, the OMNI Competition provides our students with exciting performance opportunities while enabling them to develop a network of young, like-minded individuals who share a passion for music.