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Announcing Winners of the
2025 Marianne Liberatore
Instrumental Competition
First Prize
Andrew Maskoff, piano
Second Prize
Noah Richer, guitar
The First Prize winner, Andrew Armstrong, received a check for $1,000, and the opportunity to participate in the 2025 Emerging Artist Program. Our Second Prize winner , Noah Richer, received a check for $500 and will be invited to perform in the MFY annual Chamber Music House Concert. We want to thank all the students who performed beautifully last evening. It was an amazing evening of music!
The Marianne Liberatore Memorial Instrumental Competition is in honor of Marianne Liberatore and the gift of music she gave to our community through the free Young Persons’ Concerts and school residency and exchange programs. Marianne founded Music For Youth with the goal of bringing professionally performed classical music into the lives of young people in Fairfield County.
2025 Winners
First Place Andrew Maskoff
Andrew Maskoff has been playing piano since the age of five under the tutelage of teacher and pianist Tatiana Pikayzen. He is a winner of many piano competitions, locally and nationally (CSMTA, Schubert Club Awards, Deborah Kahan, Rondo Vanguard, Deborah Kahan, Concert Festival competitions). His other musical passions include composing—primarily for choir and chamber orchestra—and conducting. Andrew is a Senior at Staples High School in Westport, CT, where he plays piano in a jazz ensemble and has assistant music directed multiple school musical theater productions—some of which he played in the pit orchestra for. He also plays piano at his synagogue for weekly Shabbat services and performs at their special events. Andrew is planning on pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree of Music in piano performance starting in the fall of 2025.
Second Place: Noah Richer
Noah Richer began playing guitar at the age of 5 and is taught by Multi Grammy Award-Nominated, #1 Billboard chart-winning guitarist, and label executive David Veslocki. He has won competitions at the Columbus State Guitar Competition, Mid Maryland Festival, Boston GuitarFest, Connecticut Suzuki Guitar Festival and Kithara Project Festival. He and the CGSA Guitar ensemble took 2nd at the 2018 Guitar Foundation of America convention and played at Carnegie Hall in 2017. A former student of Suzuki, he has passed all 9 levels of Suzuki guitar instruction and also enjoys composing solo guitar pieces. Recently, he has recorded solo and ensemble pieces in a prestigious studio in Nashville.
MEET THE 2024 ML Instrumental Winners
First Place Winner Beatrice Low
Beatrice Low is a high school senior from Westport, CT. She began her violin studies at age 3. Beatrice currently studies in Juilliard’s Pre-College Division with Sheryl Staples, principal associate concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Beatrice has been a soloist with orchestras such as Norwalk Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. She has won numerous state and international awards including the Grand Prix Winner of the Concerto Competition, the first prize winner for best Saint-Saëns performance at the Great Composers International Competition and is a 2-time MTNA strings competition state representative. Beatrice was concertmaster or assistant concertmaster of the Norwalk Youth Symphony’s Prelude, Philharmonic, and Concert Orchestras, and she was concertmaster of the Western Regional Orchestra. She has served as an assistant principal in the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. Beatrice dedicates her free time to her community through BeHASSTic, her non-profit organization. It offers free educational resources for underrepresented students. Additionally, Beatrice enjoys reading, playing chess, watching sports, and traveling.
Second Place Winner Mia Gribbon
Mia Gribbon is a junior at Hamden High School, where she is president of the school’s Tri-M National Music Honors Society chapter. She started playing clarinet seven years ago and studies with Julie Levene. Mia is the principal clarinetist of the Norwalk Youth Symphony Principal Orchestra and has been principal clarinet in the CT All State Orchestra for the past two years. Last year, she was first chair in the NAfME All National Symphony Orchestra. She attended the Tanglewood clarinet intensive last summer.
Second Place Winner Harry Tao
Harry Tao is a 9th grader from Wilton High School in Wilton, Connecticut. Harry began studying cello at the age of 7. Over the years, he has taken lessons from various teachers including Lois Errante, Justin Park, and Taeguk Mun. He currently studies with Clara Kim at the precollege division of the Juilliard School. He was the 1st place winner of 2023-2024 Winter VIVO International Music Competition, Honorable Mention of 2023 International Grand Music Competition, and silver prize winner of the 2022 International Young Artist Solo Competition. As a concerto competition winner, he has played as soloist with Danbury Symphony Orchestra, Hamden Symphony Orchestra and American Chamber Orchestra. In the summer of 2022 and 2023, he played chamber music with other musicians at the Chamber Music Institute for Young Musicians under the direction of Asya Meshberg. When he is not playing cello, Harry has excelled in playing soccer. He has won the Connecticut State Cup and advanced to the semi-finals of the Eastern Regional Championships in 2023 with his teammates at AC Connecticut.
