The Young Artist Guild is a group of the most gifted musicians in the Certificate of Merit® program. Acceptance to YAG is one of the highest honors for Certificate of Merit® students.
Students who meet the eligibility requirements applicable to each Instrument category, will apply for two rounds of auditions. Selected students will be inducted at the MTAC StateConvention. This concert serves as a debut for newly selected members and as a venue for current members to perform.
An accepted student is granted membership in the Guild for five years upon recommendation by a panel of adjudicators. During this five-year tenure, the student member may be offered semi-professional paid performance opportunities through MTAC branch-sponsored concerts.
The admission is free
Samantha Wuo (18) began studying piano at the age of 5 with Rose Chen. Currently, she attends the Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester Dual Degree Program (Piano/Chemistry), and studies with Dr. Marina Lomazov. Her most recent accomplishments include being inducted into the Music Teachers’ Association of California’s prestigious Young Artist Guild (2024), being selected for the 2023 Southeastern Piano Festival and 2022 and 2023 Vivace Music Festivals, and receiving first prizes in the 2024 CAPMT Honors Competition (Bay Area District), 2023 Radda Rise International Piano Competition,
2022 Pacific Musical Society Competition, and 2022 KAMSA Competition. She was also a winner of the 2020 Golden State Youth Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition, and has received top prizes from numerous other competitions such as the 2023 MTNA Competition, 2023 and 2021 United States International Music Competition, 2021 Spotlight International Music Competition, 2021 United States International New Star Piano Competition and the 2021 ENKOR International Music Competition. She has performed in masterclasses with world-class artists such as Alexander Kobrin, Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, and Boris Slutsky.
In her free time, Samantha likes speedcubing, learning about chemistry, hanging out with friends, and eating cookies.
Violinist Roger Chen, 19, has been a member of MTAC’s Young Artist Guild since 2023. His achievements include serving as co-principal second violin of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra during their 22-23 season and as co-concertmaster during the following 23-24 season, receiving first place awards in both solo and chamber music competitions such as ENKOR, KAMSA, VOCE, and USOMC, and attending the
Vivace International Music Festival for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023. Roger has had the privilege of performing in master classes for Midori, Erin Keefe, Ani Kavafian, Moni Simeonov, Margaret Batjer, Vijay Gupta, Richard Lin, Daniel Phillips, Jennifer Frautschi, and Paul Biss. Between 2022 and 2024, Roger was also a member of Young Chamber Musicians, where he was part of the Leonidas String Quartet and the award-winning Moltrés String Quartet. This summer, he will be attending the Colorado College Music Festival and Bowdoin International Music Festival. Roger is currently a freshman at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studies under Ayano Ninomiya. His past teachers are Ryan Chen, David Chernyavsky, and Eric Chin. In his free time, Roger enjoys drawing, playing tennis, playing video games, and cooking.