Seventeen-year-old Azariah Tan Peng Chay will be amongst four recipients of the 2009 VSA arts' International Young Soloists (IYS) Award and performing at the renowned Kennedy Center Family Theatre in Washington D.C. on 28 April 2009.

VSA arts is an international non-profit organisation that helps people with disabilities enjoy the arts. The IYS Award annually recognises outstanding young musicians with disabilities and supports and encourages them in their pursuit of a career.

A National Arts Council-Conservatory scholar and second-year student of Albert Tiu, Azariah will play the first movement of Austrian composer Mozart's Sonata K.333, French composer Claude Debussy's Prelude The Minstrels and Hungarian composer Franz Liszt's Rigoletto Fantasy Paraphrase. Before he leaves for the United States, he and other artists with disabilities will perform at a concert organised by VSA arts' Singapore affiliate at the Victoria Theatre on 19 April 2009.

Though diagnosed with a bilateral sensorineural hearing loss at the age of four, Azariah went on to score distinctions in many of his piano examinations by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and win prizes at various competitions including the Trinity College London Music Competition, Nis International Piano Competition, Asia and ASEAN Chopin International Piano Competitions. Besides performing internationally and locally, he is actively involved in fund-raising events such as the 2007 ChildAid Charity Concert and the Very Special Arts 2008 Concert. Azariah has performed in masterclasses conducted by accomplished pianists such as Murray Perahia, Piotr Paleczny, Peter Donohoe, Joseph Banowetz and Boris Kraljevic.


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