This Saturday we profile 13-year-old pianist Zarin Mehta of Chicago’s River North neighborhood, playing pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Debussy. Zarin was invited to deliver a solo Introductions recital as the winner of the 2020 New Music School Concerto Competition. Thank you to the New Music School for letting us record in their Magnificent Mile location.
Zarin Mehta is a piano student of Mary Sauer and Jeff Panko at the New Music School, and studies Theory and Composition with Matt Hagle at the Music Institute of Chicago. He made his Introductions debut in April 2020 as the winner of the New Music School Concerto Competition, performing Mendelssohn with the Chicago Arts Orchestra. Previously, Zarin was awarded second place at the 2019 Steinway Chicago Competition, Honorable Mention with Distinction in the 2019 DePaul Piano Competition, and Honorable Mention at the 2016 Walgreens National Concerto Competition. Last year, Zarin performed at Schoenberg Hall, Steinway Hall, and the Roy O. Disney Concert Hall in Southern California. Most recently, he performed with his Trio at the North Shore Center of the Performing Arts, and performed in master classes over the summer with the Curtis Institute of Music and pianist Steven Osborne. Zarin is an 8th-grader at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
