Pianist Carlo Balmoria (CFA’26) will use his $20,000 Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award to open a teaching studio in the rural Ohio town where his mother grew up.

Accolades

CFA’s 2026 Kahn Award Winner and Finalists Plan to Use Their Prize Money to Make an Impact

Top prize of $20,000 goes to pianist Carlo Balmoria (CFA’26)

Pianist Carlo Balmoria (CFA’26) will use the $20,000 he received last week as the winner of this year’s Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award to change the lives of young musicians in rural Willard, Ohio, population 6,100.

The Kahn Award is given annually to a College of Fine Arts student completing their graduate or undergraduate studies to help them launch their career and make an impact on society. Five other finalists each received $5,000.

Balmoria grew up in Virginia and didn’t start playing piano until he was 13. He graduates from BU with a Bachelor of Music in piano performance and will use the award to open a teaching studio in Willard and start a series of lectures and recitals.

“My mother grew up there, and it’s a place where I think there’s a lot of possibility for a more vibrant art scene in a very rural part of the country, which you don’t often see,” Balmoria says.

“I experienced firsthand what it’s like to grow up in a rural area with little access to music education and the arts, and how that can really impact someone,” he says. “I’m grateful that I’ve had so much support from my loved ones, and that I’ve been able to come to the place where I am today. Going forward, I just want to be able to give back.”

The award, he says, means that he’ll be able to afford a nicer instrument for his piano studio, rent a space, and have a more professional presence. “It also means that I would have more funds for traveling to and from performances, and more opportunities.”

Balmoria has appeared as soloist on prestigious stages, including the Gijon International Piano Festival and the Malaga International Piano Festival, but he often performs at retirement homes, hospitals, and other places where music is needed the most. He plans to continue that work and to play and teach organ as well as piano.

He and this year’s Kahn Award finalists “actually believe that their work, their artistry, a sense of community gathered through innovation, can bring about positive change,” says Harvey Young, dean of the College of Fine Arts.

The Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award Fund was established in 1985 with an endowed contribution of $1 million from Esther Kahn (Wheelock’55, Hon.’86). Finalists are chosen based on proposals they submit detailing how they would use the award to launch their careers, their concern for social issues, and their take on the artist’s role in contemporary society.

The awards were given out last week at a gala celebration at the CFA, featuring remarks from Young and awards judges Keith Lockhart (Hon.’04), conductor of the Boston Pops, and Catherine Morris, arts and creativity director of the Boston Foundation. A third judge, Ming Min Hui, executive director of the Boston Ballet, was unable to attend the ceremony.

“These are six really interesting individual stories, six people with goals that I know I didn’t have as well formed as they do, when I was 21 or 22,” Lockhart said at the event. “These are amazing plans, which does my heart good. They have to do with putting good things back into the world, and not just your own personal accomplishment. We need more people like you.”

Speaking of this year’s winners, Young says, “Whether it’s Carlo wanting to go into the community and inspire people via music, or it’s Sydney, who wants to use performance to restore marginalized voices and histories, or it’s Aija, who sees a similarity between those who are struggling in Boston and in Latvia, they see the arts as a through line to actually bring about positive, transformational change.”

The five finalists are:

Aija Reke (CFA’15,’26)Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in violin

A Latvian violinist, chamber musician, published composer, and concert presenter, Reke is working to create a music education program that would connect students at Tukums Music School in Latvia with students in Boston.

Sydney Jackson (CFA’26)Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in acting, musical theatre concentration

An actor and singer, teacher, stage manager, and writer, Jackson is passionate about amplifying the voices of Black women and telling authentic Black stories. She is developing a solo performance play to celebrate the vital yet often forgotten or erased contributions of Black queer women during the Civil Rights Movement. 

Nichole Man (CFA’26)Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in production management, graduate certificate in project management

A theatre technician, sound designer, and production manager, Man will refine and distribute a production management communication handbook she developed in CFA classes that is focused on inclusive and equitable collaboration.

Tyler Best (CFA’26)Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in graphic design

A graphic designer and creative director, he is cofounder and chief creative officer of Regal Rain, a narrative-driven fashion brand that reimagines the umbrella as a luxury object. He plans to scale up the business from one being run out of his living space into a full-time business with a content studio and fulfillment operation, as well as a paid internship initiative for emerging designers of color.

Kal Lee (CFA’26)Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in sculpture

An interdisciplinary artist focusing on sculptural and installation-based work, Lee creates objects that often resemble familiar forms of furniture but reveal traces of fragmentation and deconstruction. The Kahn Award, she says, will ensure her access to further work, provide her with the funds to submit to residencies, open calls, and other portfolio-building opportunities, and allow her to build connections with artists who are also invested in craft.