PIANO MASTERCLASS WITH MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN

Tallon Tirozzi

performing Kapustin- Sonata No. 1 Op. 39 (Sonata-Fantasy), mvt. 1

Tallon Tirozzi is a 16-year-old pianist from Charleston, South Carolina, who has been studying piano for nearly a decade. A student at the Charleston County School of the Arts, he majors in classical piano and is the keyboardist for the school’s top jazz band, maintaining a 4.9 GPA. Tallon is an accomplished player recognized by the South Carolina public school system as an All-State Jazz Pianist. Past awards and achievements include being selected as the state classical piano recitalist by SCMTA, winner of the Louise Mathis Scholarship, honorable mention for an original composition by SCMTA, honorable mention in the MTNA state competition for classical piano performance, multiple time recitalist and alternate for Achievement Day, and more. Tallon enjoys performing a mix of classical, jazz, and top forty music at restaurants and other venues around Charleston.  He studies classical piano with Dr. Margaret (Happy) Byrd and Dr. Volodymyr Vynnytsky, jazz with Gerald Gregory and Nicholas Brewer, and composition with Dan McCurry. 

Jonathan Mei

performing J.S. Bach – Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903

Jonathan Mei, sixteen, is a junior at Academic Magnet High School in Charleston, South Carolina. He currently studies piano under the guidance of Dr. Marina Lomazov. Johnny has won multiple scholarships and awards, including the Charleston Music Club Lancaster-King Piano Award, John Wohlstetter Piano Scholarship, the Music Matters! Award, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League (CSOL) summer study scholarship, Chopin International Piano Competition (Hartford), first place at the statewide South Carolina Music Teachers Association Piano Competition, Discretionary Award and Young Jury Award at the 2025 Arthur Fraser Piano Competition, and first prize at the 2019 South Carolina Steinway Junior Piano Competition, 2023 W. Darr Wise Piano Competition, and the 2025 Nashville International Piano Competition. He won the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) State Piano Competition and 2022 MTNA Southern Division Piano Competition, where he was a 2022 MTNA Junior Piano National Finalist. Johnny and his sister, Angela Mei, were national finalists in the 2020 and 2021 MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition and national third place winners in the 2021 MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition. Grand Prize winner of the 2024 MostArts Festival Young Pianist Competition, Johnny returned to Alfred University in 2025 to perform under the baton of Conductor Yuval Zaliouk with the MostArts Festival Orchestra.