2025 Student Achievements

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2025 Student Achievements *

MARCH 2025

Zia Federation Festival SoA Selections

Andrea Yu

Aniya Bell

Kailey Shao

Zia Federation Festival Students to Perform with Symphony of Albuquerque

We are proud to announce that four outstanding students from this year’s Zia Federation Festival — hosted annually at the Albuquerque Institute of Music — have been selected to perform with the Symphony of Albuquerque (SOA) this October. This marks the second consecutive year that our students have been invited to join this exciting collaboration!

🎶 Featured Albuquerque Institute of Music Performers:

  • Aniya Bell (student of Jennifer Stull)

  • Andrea Yu (student of Tatyana Bayliyeva)

  • Kailey Shao (student of Melinda Moore)

These talented young musicians will begin rehearsals with SOA in mid-September, with a schedule organized by conductor John Yuan.

🎼 Concert Dates:

  • October 12 at 2:00 PM – Heights Cumberland Presbyterian
    8600 Academy Rd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

  • October 19 at 2:30 PM – St. John XXIII Catholic Community
    4831 Tramway Ridge Dr NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

We’re so proud of their hard work and can’t wait to see them shine on stage with the Symphony!

FEBRUARY 2025

Jackie McGehee Young Artists' Competition Winners

Sixteen-year-old Albuquerque native and homeschooled high school junior, a student of the Albuquerque Institute of Music, will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, III. Rondo – Vivace alongside his brother Daniel Choi and under the guidance of his teacher, Tatyana Bayliyeva, as the 1st place winner in the 2025 Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Competition.

He’ll be performing with New Mexico’s Philharmonics in October 2025!

1st Place Winner: Sean Choi

2nd Place Winner: Sophia Zhang

Fifteen-year-old Albuquerque native and high school sophomore at Socorro High School, Sophia earned 2nd place at the 2025 Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Competition with her performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414, I. Allegro, studying under the guidance of Tatyana Bayliyeva at the Albuquerque Institute of Music.

Fourteen-year-old Albuquerque native and 9th grader at Albuquerque Academy earned 2nd place at the 2025 Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Competition with a captivating performance of Tchaikovsky’s Dumka in C minor, Op. 59, under the instruction of Tatyana Bayliyeva at the Albuquerque Institute of Music.

2nd Place Winner: William Leng