LIVE | Amelia Zitoun, 17, cello

Today is the first live recital of the new school year. Amelia Zitoun is in her fifth and final year in the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, commuting every Saturday from Shorewood, Wisconsin to Lake Forest, Illinois. She’s joined by pianist Liang-yu Wang in music of Alfredo Piatti, Nadia Boulanger, and Johannes Brahms. Amelia Zitoun, 17, is a scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, a training center for advanced pre-college students. She has been a student there since 2019. She currently studies cello with Hans Jørgen Jensen. She recently won the Gold Medal at the Stulberg International String Competition. As a result, she will play the Haydn D major Concerto with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra this year. She also won the first prize at the 2023 Bolz Final Forte Competition where she played the Barber Concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. She was the winner of the 2022 Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Stars of Tomorrow Competition, performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and Barber’s Cello Concerto with the MSO as a result. Amelia is also an active chamber musician. As member of the Pelios String Quartet, she won the Silver Medal at the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Additionally, Pelios won the Gold Medal and Haydn Prize at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition. She has appeared on Introductions previously in three different chamber groups, including Pelios, in June 2020, in August 2022, and in August 2023. She is also a student of the the Perlman Littles Program, a 7-week summer program led by Toby and Itzhak Perlman. In 2022, she attended the Heifetz International Music Institute. Amelia is an 12th grader at Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wisconsin. In her free time she enjoys listening to music, painting, and playing board games with her family.