Kenneth Gallwas

Kenneth Gallwas, a freshman at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, is a student of Mary Sauer and Jeff Panko at New Music School. Kenneth began studying piano when he turned 6 years old and soon started performing competitively and won Carnegie Hall debut at age 9. His other awards include in American Protegee Talent competition, Granquist Music Competition, Illinois Music Association festival, Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, Seattle Bach Festival, and most recently the first prize at the senior division of SeJong National competition. Kenneth was a semi-finalist in 2020 and 2021 NMS concerto competition and made an orchestral debut performing the first movement of Chopin’s piano concerto No.2 in F minor with the Chicago Arts Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Kulenovic. In January 2022, he had another performance with the Chicago Arts Orchestra and conductor Conner Gray Covington for Schumann’s Concerto in A-minor Op. 54. Kenneth’s most recent orchestral experience is in Todi, Italy with TIMM Ensemble Orchestra conducted by Francesco D’Ovidio, where he played the last movement of the 2nd concerto in F-minor by Chopin. Kenneth has received master lessons from Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Eduardo Delgado, Andreas Froelich, Steve Osbourn, Marta Aznavoorian, Sylvia Wang, and Winston Choi. Outside of the piano, Kenneth is a cellist in the school orchestra and an ice hockey player at the Chicago Blues. He also enjoys working as a church choir accompanist, a level 2 USA hockey referee and a part-time YMCA staff to coach young children in the community.

You can find Kenneth’s 2023 Classical Music Competition piano performance here.