Carnegie Hall Shines a Spotlight on BU School of Music Students
Photos capture a dazzling evening of solos performed by competition winners
Photos by Tom Tranfaglia
Carnegie Hall Shines a Spotlight on BU School of Music Students
Photos capture a dazzling evening of solos performed by competition winners
Carnegie Hall is to classical music what LaScala and the Metropolitan Opera are to opera singers and what Radio City Music Hall is to the Rockettes. Since its opening in 1891, such luminaries as Pablo Casals, Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Marian Anderson, and Duke Ellington have graced its stages.
And now nine College of Fine Arts School of Music students can add their names to that storied roster. On March 24, the BU singers and musicians performed on the stage of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as this year’s Boston University Spotlight featured artists. The annual showcase drew a crowd of students, faculty, alumni, and local concert goers.
The musicians—violinist Jisoo Kim (CFA’30), tubaist Grayson Hinrichs (CFA’27), violist Freya Downey (CFA’26), tenor ShuangXiang Shan (CFA’26), pianist Yifang Xu (CFA’29), flutist Ying Jin (CFA’27), violinist Andy OuYang (CFA’29), tenor Heming Cao (CFA’27), and pianist Ethan McGrath (CFA’29)—performed an exciting program of works by contemporary composers, including Joan Tower, Claire Sievers, and Young Jo Lee. (Franz Liszt was the one 19th-century composer included). Each of this year’s selected performers had participated in a multistage competition run by the School of Music. Finalists selected from each department (voice, keyboards, strings, and woodwinds/brass/percussion) then competed before a panel of outside judges, all renowned musicians. Michelle LaCourse, a CFA associate professor of music and chair of strings, served as Spotlight Concert artistic director.
Photographer Tom Tranfaglia was on hand to capture the students’ virtuosic performances. Take a look.
Jisoo Kim (CFA’30), a Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance student, performing Honza Nori by Young Jo Lee during the Spotlight concert presented by the BU School of Music for the audience gathered at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
Grayson Hinrichs (CFA’27), a Master of Music in tuba performance student, performing Blue Grace by Claire Sievers during the the BU School of Music Spotlight concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
Freya Downey (CFA’26), a Doctor of Musical Arts in viola performance student, performs ko’u inoa by Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti during the BU School of Music Spotlight concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
Yifang Xu (CFA’29), a Doctor of Musical Arts in collaborative piano student (left), and ShuangXiang Shan (CFA’26), a Master of Music in vocal performance student, perform Las nubes by Carlos Guastavino during the BU School of Music Spotlight concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
Soloist Ying Jin (CFA’27), a Master of Music in flute performance student, performs Soliloquy, Op. 44 by Lowell Liebermann during the BU School of Music Spotlight concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
Andy OuYang (CFA’29), a Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance student, performs Second String Force by Joan Tower during the BU School of Music Spotlight concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
Heming Cao (CFA’27) (right), a Doctor of Musical Arts in vocal performance student, and Ethan McGrath (CFA’29), a Doctor of Musical Arts in collaborative piano student, perform Franz Liszt’s Schwebe, schwebe, blaues Auge with poetry by Franz Dingelstedt, and “O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst,” with poetry by Ferdinand Freiligrath, during the BU School of Music Spotlight concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
This year’s BU Spotlight performers ShuangXiang Shan (CFA’26) (from left), Ethan McGrath (CFA’29), Heming Cao (CFA’27), Yifang Xu (CFA’29), Grayson Hinrichs (CFA’27), Jisoo Kim (CFA’30), Andy OuYang (CFA’29), Ying Jin (CFA’27), and Freya Downey (CFA’26) at the BU School of Music Spotlight Concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.
BU Spotlight performers taking a final bow at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, March 24, 2026.