Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients announced for 2026

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Four Avery Fisher Career Grants have been announced for 2026. The recipients are cellist Leland Ko, violinists Nathan Meltzer and Keila Wakao, and pianist Dmitry Yudin.

The award ceremony was held on Tuesday 24 March at New York Public Radio’s event space and broadcast studio, the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR. Performances from the four grant recipients followed the annoucement.

Avery Fisher Career Grants of the Avery Fisher Artist Program are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists, as well as small chamber ensembles. Each recipient receives an award of $25,000, to be used for specific needs in advancing a career.

Cellist Leland Ko studied with Kirsten Peltz, Ronald Lowry, and Paul Katz before attending Princeton University, where he graduated with an A.B. in German Literature. He received an M.M at The Juilliard School under Minhye Clara Kim, Timothy Eddy, and Natasha Brofsky, and then earned an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory under guidance of Laurence Lesser, Yeesun Kim, and Donald Weilerstein.

Violinist Nathan Meltzer is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman. He won the 2023 Concert Artist Guild Competition, was a major prizewinner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and youngest ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition.

Violinist Keila Wakao is a student of Miriam Fried at New England Conservatory. She recently won first prize at the 2026 Schadt String Competition, and has won first prize at the Menuhin and Stulburg international violin competitions in 2021. In 2023, she received the Aoyama Music Foundation Award for Upcoming Artists in Japan and was named a recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in New York.

Pianist Dmitry Yudin moved to New York from Russia in 2019 to study at the Manhattan School of Music. He is a prizewinner of numerous competitions, including the 15th International Scriabin Piano Competition, the International Classical Music Festival and Competition for Young Pianists, Astana Piano Passion, Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition, and the Youth Delphi Games in Russia.

Since 1976, 183 career grants have been awarded (including this year’s grants), and all recipients maintain active music careers. Former career grant recipients include cellists Carter Brey and Zlatomir Fung; violinists Sarah Chang and Paul Huang; violist Matthew Lipman; double bassist Nina Bernat; and the Calidore Quartet.