GOLD MEDAL WINNER: Amy Lin, Princeton High School senior and virtuoso pianist, center, celebrates her Royal Conservatory of Music Gold Medal award, presented to her at Carnegie Hall on January 14. Marvin Blickenstaff and Kairy Koshoeva, her piano teachers at the New School for Music Study in Kingston, join in honoring her. (Photo courtesy of Amy Lin)

By Donald Gilpin

There’s the old joke where the New York City tourist asks a man in the street who’s carrying a violin case, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The musician’s answer: “Practice, practice, practice.”

For rising Princeton High School (PHS) senior and pianist Amy Lin, the answer might be “practice, practice, practice,” but she also had to win the Gold Medal in the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) National Award, receiving the highest score in the country at the RCM’s top performance level.

As a Gold Medal winner in the competition against pianists of all ages from all over the U.S. and Canada, Lin was invited to perform in the RCM Celebration of Excellence Recital at Carnegie Hall this past January 14, where she played Mikhail Glinka’s “The Lark” with transcription by Mily Balakirev.

“It was both exhilarating and a little nerve-wracking to perform my favorite piece on such a big stage,” Lin wrote in an email. “I was captivated by the hall’s rich acoustics and the beautiful sound of the grand piano. It really brought an unexpected grandiosity and charm to the music. It was also an amazing experience to hear the other musicians performing on different instruments. This performance was definitely the most memorable for me.”

Kairy Koshoeva, Lin’s teacher at the New School for Music Study (NSMS) in Kingston where Lin has been a student since she was 5, commented on the performance. “Amy was the last performer on the program and she performed so beautifully, with virtuosity, artistry, and colors in her sound,” Koshoeva said, as quoted in a NSMS press release. “I was in tears at the joyful moment of being a proud teacher! Being a teacher is hard work every day, but it is a blessing and a life-changing experience. I am forever grateful, and proud of my talented student Amy!”

The judge in the RCM competition described Lin’s performance of the repertoire for the exam, which included styles from baroque to 20th century classical music. “You play with a great deal of conviction and dedication to the composer’s intentions,” the judge said. “It was wonderful to see such a diverse range of colors, styles, and emotions in today’s performance.”

Lin, who practices about six or seven hours a week despite her busy PHS schedule, described the enjoyment she feels in the piano’s ability to communicate a wide range of emotions. “I think that music is a language of its own, expressing subtle sentiments when words fall short,” she said. “Music is important to me not only because it brings me joy and helps me relax, but also because it connects me with others no matter when and where they come from. Music can bridge across distance and generations.”

In addition to practicing and performing, Lin has also enjoyed composing ever since she began playing the piano. Motivated by the NSMS composition contest and the opportunity to perform her musical creations at end-of-year recitals, Lin eagerly pursued her interest in composing.

“My compositions started out by imitating the pieces I loved, then developed into lyrical melodies, and slowly evolved into orchestral pieces,” she wrote. “But no matter what music came out, I always had fun.”

Lin’s interests are not limited to the piano. They extend also to science and technology. “I’m particularly fascinated by AI and machine learning and have done several research projects in this area,” she said.

One of those projects merged her interests in science and music and also involved her dog’s reactions to sounds using machine learning. “I found that she reacts most strongly to low frequency sounds, which explains perfectly why she sings along to bass notes when I practice piano,” said Lin.

Lin was a member of the PHS national championship research team in the 2024 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. She also runs an app development club and the CS (Computer Science) and AI clubs, as well as serving as a peer leader on the eSTEAM Academy for Princeton Middle School students.

For the future, Lin would like to learn “a few more pieces from Chopin and Schubert” before she finishes high school. For college, she plans to choose a STEM major and possibly a minor in music. “I hope to continue playing music,” she said. “It will always be a part of my life.”

Lin went on to thank her piano teachers: Koshoeva, Charl Louw, Marvin Blickenstaff, Kristin Cahill, and others at NSMS.