Theatre

CFA Names 2026 Recipients of the Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Awards

The annual Boston University College of Fine Arts event honors students’ artistic excellence, with awards helping to boost their careers after graduation

CFA is thrilled to celebrate the 2026 Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Awards recipients on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at 1:30 pm in the CFA Student Lounge (Room 102) at 855 Commonwealth Avenue.

The Kahn Career Entry Award Fund was established in 1985 with an endowed contribution of $1 million from Esther Kahn (Wheelock’55, Hon.’86).

Each spring, students completing their last semester of graduate or undergraduate studies are eligible to compete for the award. Finalists are chosen based on the students’ submitted proposals 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.

This year’s awards will total $45,000. Six finalists (two per School) have been selected and will each receive $5,000. The final award winner will be chosen from the finalists and will receive an additional $15,000 for a total grand prize of $20,000.

This year’s Kahn Awards jurors are Ming Min Hiu, Executive Director, Boston Ballet; Keith Lockhart, Conductor, Boston Pops; and Catherine Morris, Arts and Creativity Director, The Boston Foundation.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC RECIPIENTS

Carlo Balmoria (CFA’26)

Bachelor of Music (BM) in Piano Performance

FINAL AWARD WINNER

Pianist Carlo Balmoria is an artist committed to fostering connection and community through music. As a performer, he strives to bring music to audiences in diverse places, and as an educator, he believes in the unique potential of every student, regardless of background or identity.

With assistance from the Kahn Award, Carlo plans to further establish himself as a performer and educator, opening a private teaching studio and beginning a series of lecture-recitals in the Midwest.

Carlo has earned praise from audiences across North America and Europe for his sensitive and compelling performances. In recent years, he has appeared as soloist at the Gijon International Piano Festival, the Malaga International Piano Festival, and the Brevard Music Center, among others. But outside of the concert hall, he often performs at retirement homes, hospitals, and other places where music is needed the most.

Born and raised in Virginia, Carlo first began to study the piano at the age of 13. His exponential growth over the years is a product of his dedication and resilience, as well as the tremendous work of his teachers. He currently studies piano with Andrius Žlabys and historical performance with Peter Sykes at Boston University.

Carlo is a member of the professional cinematic fraternity Delta Kappa Alpha at Boston University. As a composer, he writes music for various short films in collaboration with student filmmakers in the College of Communication. Outside of music, he enjoys exercising, cooking, and watching too many movies.

Aija Reke (CFA’15,’26)

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Violin Performance

Aija Reke is a Latvian violinist, chamber musician, published composer, concert presenter, and pedagogue. Her educational work focuses on Social Emotional Learning, global community engagement, environmental justice, and high performance.

She released her album “Latvian Reflections” under the Spice Classics label (July 2021). It was presented on National Latvian Radio Channel 3, Latvian National TV Station 1, and other Latvian media nationally and abroad. Henry Fogel, one of the most respected music personalities in the USA, reviewed the album positively for Fanfare Magazine. Latvian Reflections solidifies Aija’s passion for promoting Latvian heritage — particularly 20th-century Latvian composers. As a composer, her Meditation-Prayer was published in 2019 by Musica Baltica (Edition Peters). Albany Records label released her most recent solo recording on Ketty Nez’s album “Far Sight Sun”(2023).

Aija received the Boston University Women’s Council Scholarship in 2024, which supported her volunteer teaching and conservation work at Daraja Music Initiative in Tanzania in the summer of 2025. The volunteer teaching in Africa was a transformative experience, engaging a large community in Moshi, Tanzania, reaching beyond music.

Aija won the Solo Bach Competition at Boston University (2014), is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, American National Music Honor Society (since 2015), and is a recipient of the Boston Latvian Cultural Heritage Award (2014). She has performed in sixteen countries, including in Europe, North America, and Africa as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. Aija has performed with ALEA III – Contemporary Music Ensemble in Residence at Boston University, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Odyssey Opera. Her collaboration with several composers led to multiple world premieres.

Aija is a devoted teacher and has taught an exceptionally large number of students in various community programs such as the Boston Music Project, Brookline Public Schools, the El Sistema program, and also in private schools. In 2024, she led a webinar for Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education. In 2021, she led an international masterclass sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Rīga, Latvia, at Ventspils Music High School in Latvia, with approximately 200 participants enrolled in her class. She also taught seminars at Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga, Latvia.

She is a contributor to the prestigious Strad Magazine with an article about overcoming stage fright.

Aija is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the Boston University College of Fine Arts, where she studies with Professor Bayla Keyes. She graduated from Boston University (MM, 2015) under Dana Mazurkevich, with a CFA Full Tuition Scholarship, and Rotterdam Conservatory (BM, 2013) in the Netherlands under Benzion Shamir.

Outside of music, Aija is a passionate advocate of personal development and is attending online classes and live seminars with Brendon Burchard and Growth Day. Aija is also a volunteer at the American Red Cross.

learn more about aija

SCHOOL OF THEATRE RECIPIENTS

Sydney Jackson (CFA’26)

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Acting, Musical Theatre Concentration

Sydney Alicia Jackson is an actor and singer who brings her vibrant smile and warm, magnetic energy into every room. Whether on stage or in front of the camera, she draws audiences into compelling, heartfelt storytelling.

Offstage, Sydney is a teacher, stage manager, and writer, always seeking opportunities to learn new skills and expand her artistry. She is deeply passionate about amplifying the voices of Black women and telling authentic Black stories. Sydney strives to create work that not only entertains but also inspires connection, representation, and lasting impact. She is from Greenburgh, New York, and is pursuing her BFA in Acting here at Boston University. 

Some of Sydney’s acting credits include Dailyn in Morning, Noon, and Night (Company One), Squeak in The Color Purple (Umbrella Arts), Ensemble in Beauty & the Beast (Summer Theatre of New Canaan), Ensemble in The Spongebob Musical (Wheelock Family Theatre), Lack in Make Way for Ducklings (Hangar Theatre), and Mom in Pete the Cat (Hangar Theatre). 

Sydney is honored to be a finalist for the Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Fund for the Arts and thankful for this opportunity.

learn more about Sydney

Nichole Man (CFA’26)

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Production Management, Graduate Certificate in Project Management

Nichole Man (she/her) is an MFA candidate in Production Management at Boston University College of Fine Arts and a 2023 BFA graduate in Theatre Production with Distinction Honors from the University of Alberta. Originally from Hong Kong and shaped by her training and professional experience across Asia and North America, she brings an international and intercultural perspective to her work as a theatre technician, sound designer, and production manager.

A former ballerina and actress, Nichole carries a performer’s sensitivity into her leadership, approaching production management as both an artistic and human-centered practice. She is deeply committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion by cultivating rehearsal and production environments where underrepresented artists feel supported, respected, and valued.

As an advocate for minority communities within the arts, she strives to challenge systemic barriers while fostering collaborative spaces grounded in care, accountability, and shared creative purpose. She hopes to contribute to a theatre industry where production leadership not only realizes ambitious work, but also strengthens the communities that create it.

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS RECIPIENTS

Tyler Best (CFA’26)

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Graphic Design

Tyler Best is a graphic designer and creative director based in Boston, completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Boston University School of Visual Arts. A consistent Dean’s List student, his work centers on branding, visual storytelling, and worldbuilding, with a focus on how design can reshape perception and transform everyday experiences. His practice is rooted in a lineage of Black entrepreneurship; with three out of four grandparents having owned businesses, he views design as a vehicle for independence and community-building. He was further shaped by his grandmother’s fashion merchandising business—active since the 1990s and still operating today—where he grew up assisting with immersive runway shows and developed an early understanding of how atmosphere, styling, and presentation can shape how people experience a space and themselves within it.

As Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Regal Rain, Tyler leads a narrative-driven fashion brand that reimagines the umbrella as a luxury object organized around four distinct “Houses”: Imperium, Amor, Regalia, and Terra. Under his creative direction, the brand was selected as one of only ten student ventures from over 100 applicants for Boston University’s Summer Accelerator and has since expanded into global fashion spaces, including a featured runway presentation during New York Fashion Week in February 2026. Beyond his brand, Tyler has developed campaign concepts for Procter & Gamble through the BLAC Internship Program, led branding for BU’s Spark! Hackathons, and authored a section on the Black experience in design for The Design History Reader (2024).

As a co-founder of the Black Student Task Force and former Vice President of Umoja, Boston University’s Black Student Union, Tyler has used design to support advocacy and expand student engagement. Following graduation, he plans to expand Regal Rain to include a paid internship initiative providing emerging designers of color with compensated work and portfolio-building opportunities within a Black-owned design practice. Through his work, Tyler seeks to build inclusive pathways that empower the next generation of creative entrepreneurs to see their identity as a source of strength, and to reimagine what is possible through design.

Kal Lee (CFA’26)

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Sculpture

Kal Lee is an interdisciplinary artist who is currently focusing on sculptural and installation-based work. They are interested in creating innocuous objects that often resemble familiar forms of furniture, which, upon closer inspection, reveal traces of fragmentation and deconstruction that have been reassembled and conjoined through complicated, technically difficult, and sometimes absurd processes.

As unstable and peculiar compounds, they are presentations of reimagined domestic trappings from an alternate reality. These objects reflect the elusive, changeable, and contextually dependent natures of identity and signification as a continuously fluctuating narrative.

With their work, they aim to invite the audience to experience this cyclic process of dematerialization, reconstitution, arrangement, and rearrangement, as well as inquiries into the nature of material, linguistic orientations, and relations, which prompts the viewers to reconsider assumptions and our habits of naming.

Originally from Korea, Kal moved to the U.S. in 2019 for their undergraduate studies, which they completed at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They are currently in the process of obtaining their Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Boston University.