Seventeen year old Leyla Kabuli is a scholarship student of Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division, and is the pianist of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

She won First Prizes in the Los Angeles Young Artists International, the Wildflower Young Artist Music Showcase, and the eMuse International competitions; Second Prize in the Enkor International Piano Competition; Third Prize in the Virginia Waring International Concerto Competition; and best transcription and audience prizes in the Seattle International Piano Festival & Competition.  She also won First Prizes in the Pacific Musical Society, MTAC solo and concerto, CAPMT honors and contemporary, Kruschke, Mindell, Ghiglieri, Classical Masters, East Bay, Berkeley Etude Club, and US Open competitions; as well as top prizes in CMTANC, McKee, SF Chopin, Zeiter, and regional MTNA Piano Duet competitions. She was a 2016 and 2017 National Young Arts winner, and a Chopin Foundation Scholarship recipient.

As the 2016 Helen von Ammon Emerging Artist Award recipient, Leyla had a solo recital on San Francisco’s Noontime Concerts. She performed with Ensemble SF, and as a soloist with the Waring Festival Orchestra in 2015. She appeared on NPR’s From the Top in 2016, and collaborated with the show on a music video to raise awareness for refugees. Leyla especially enjoys chamber music and collaborative piano, and has attended the BU Tanglewood Institute, Southeastern Piano Festival, and Colburn Academy. She has upcoming performances with the El Camino Symphony, Nova Vista Symphony, and Sonoma Philharmonic as the winner of their Young Artist competitions.

Repertoire

Round I

Bach                                                 Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B major, WTC 2, BWV 892

Hindemith                                        Sonata No. 3 in B-flat major, Movement 4: Fuga, Lebhaft

Liszt                                                  Rhapsodie espagnole, S. 254

Round II

Beethoven                                      Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2  Tempest

Liszt                                                Étude d’exécution transcendante, No. 12 in B-flat minor, S. 139 Chasse Neige

Stravinsky                                        Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka: 1. Danse Russe

Round III

Beethoven                                      Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37