High School senior Ray Tang recently placed first overall in his age group in the Berlin Classical Music Competition. Completely online, the Berlin Classical Music Competition aims to foster an interest in classical music, is open to all nationalities and ages, and includes categories in piano, strings, wind instruments, percussion, voice, four-hands piano and chamber music.    

Ray has not entered any competitions since middle school, where he performed at Carnegie Hall in the American Protégé Music Competitions for string and keyboard and placed third. He explained that he wanted to challenge himself one more time during his senior year. “By entering this competition, I was able to connect with the world community that is passionate about classical music,” he said.   

For the competition, Ray played Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, a piece that he says is his most challenging piece. He explained that, for starters, the piece is densely packed with notes. He also said the competition is very subjective, and that musicians like him must tell the story through the music, as well as express its musicality.  

While researching during the Simons Summer Research Program this past summer, Ray decided to take the opportunity to utilize the music practice rooms at the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University, where he would find himself practicing well into the middle of the night.  

“At some point I decided to buy a tripod and started recording myself for the competition,” he said. “The pianos at the university are amazing.”  

Ray said he practices every day for an hour, but more toward an hour and a half while preparing for competition. Currently, he is preparing for a local competition and is practicing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The fall has been filled with schoolwork, robotics team activities and applying for colleges. He has his sights set on attending a New York Ivy League school to study engineering but plans on minoring on music.  

“Many of the schools I am applying to for college have programs where I can continue studying music,” Ray said. “I want to continue my passion for music, while I study mechanical engineering.”