Two Minnesota students will be performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City next month in celebration of an international recognition.
Laila Elazab, center, of White Bear Lake, as Morticia Addams in the White Bear Lake Children’s Performing Arts 2022 production of “The Addams Family.” Elazab will perform Dec. 20 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. (Courtesy of the MacPhail Center for Music)
Earlier this year, the two MacPhail Center for Music vocal students won international awards at the American Protege International Vocal Competition. They will be celebrating the win with performances at Carnegie Hall.
Sixteen-year-old Laila Elazab, a high school student from White Bear Lake, took first place in the category and 13-year-old Max Zhang, of Wayzata, took second place. Both performed classical songs in Italian and competed through video submissions. Their Carnegie Hall performances will take place Dec. 20, with Elazab also performing on Dec. 17 as well.
“I feel super honored and it’s really so exciting,” Elazab said. “And it’s crazy to see another student from MacPhail got it, too.”
Zhang, who is in eighth grade, said he found a deep connection with music at an early age.
Max Zhang, of Wayzata, will be performing Dec. 20 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. (Courtesy of the MacPhail Center for Music)
“My first introduction to MacPhail was my mom wanting to seek more opportunities for me to perform on stage,” Zhang said. “I used to just sing Chinese poems with my local teacher, but my mom felt like it was too little for me, so she looked for better opportunities for me and found MacPhail.”
MacPhail Center for Music serves a diverse group of more than 15,000 students yearly from across Minnesota. The center offers group and individual lessons in more than 35 instruments as well as voice lessons and other musical arts.
The center has physical locations in Minneapolis, Chanhassen, Apple Valley, Austin, Minn., and Wisconsin’s Madeline Island, and also offers online courses.
“MacPhail Center for Music provides access to diverse and relevant music learning experiences, delivered by extraordinary faculty,” according to the center’s mission statement.
Elazab and Zhang are both students of Mikyoung Park at MacPhail, and have studied with her for a majority of their lives.
“I always recommend to send my students on the stage because learning in the classroom versus on the stage is different,” Park said.
Park began singing when she was young, one of her earliest memories being the sound of a piano from a musical academy in her hometown in South Korea. Since that time, she has pursued music, coming to the United States in 2000 and graduating from the University of Minnesota with a doctorate in musical arts and a voice pedagogy certification.
Joining MacPhail in 2014, she is now an instructor leading courses in voice, piano, opera, musical theater and K-pop.
“I can’t even describe how much I’ve learned,” Elazab said. “I don’t think I would have ever been the singer I am without her, for sure. I learn so much every single time I go, and all of her advice, like, I never disagree.”
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Elazab has been performing since she was young, originally studying piano with Park before singing in a piano performance. From that moment, Park and Elazab both agreed she was meant to be singing.
Today, she dreams of studying musical performance in college, and maybe one day performing on Broadway.
“I really do love New York and love the opportunities for music there,” Elazab said.
Similarly, Zhang looks forward to performing at Carnegie Hall in December, and hopes to one day return.
“I’ve done a lot of music, so it’s kind of like my second home to me,” Zhang said.
“I am just really excited to see all these different performers perform and learn something from them,” Elazab said.
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