Everett C Leigh: A Journey Through Music and Meaning
- WOMCO
- 9 hours ago
- 5 min read
Everett C Leigh was a Best Award Winner in the Young Artist (Age 14-17) Category, at the 2025 Season I International Music Leadership Award.
Biography
Under the esteemed guidance of Professor Ethan Dong since age nine, fifteen-year-old Everett has emerged as a piano prodigy whose extraordinary talent has been recognized by eminent figures including Professors Boris Berman, William Grant Naboré, Robert McDonald, Baruch Meir, Carol Leone, Inna Faliks, Robert Shannon, Stanislav Ioudenitch, as well as renowned pianists Alessandro Deljavan and Eric Lu.
Everett's competitive achievements include winning the prestigious Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition, being named Pianist of the Year at the AD LIBITUM Warsaw International Piano Competition, claiming victory at the SoCalPhil Young Artists Solo Competition, and triumphing at the Pearl River Kayserburg International Youth Piano Competition. His remarkable journey includes over 50 victories in international competitions and a feature as the cover story for Maestro Magazine and WOMCO news.
As a soloist, Everett has performed with the Vicente Chamber Orchestra of California, Pacific Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Glendale Youth Orchestra, and SoCal Philharmonic. His artistry has graced prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, the Soka Performing Arts Center, the Nixon Library, and Alex Theater.
Everett holds the distinction of being the sole Junior Piano Soloist appointed by the United Nations, representing UNITAR at high-profile events including the "Piano Recital Recording Concert for Refugees" at the United Nations Plaza in New York, with his performances featured in an UN-produced documentary.
Beyond his musical accomplishments, Everett founded EverEverest, a non-profit organization that organizes benefit concerts featuring young pianists to support underprivileged communities such as foster children. This initiative has garnered widespread support from organizations, politicians, and prestigious pianists, using music as a powerful force for social change.
Everett is also a champion swimmer, holds a Taekwondo Black Belt, is an expert in Pokémon lore, and enjoys traveling the world.
Can you introduce yourself and share how you got into music?
I've been playing the piano since I was five years old. In those early days, it was mostly about technical precision—my fingers could dance across the keys, but there was something missing. For years, I equated successful musical performance with displaying technical prowess, while my heart remained silent. I was going through the motions without feeling truly connected to my performances. Later on, I went through a transformation that got me into real music. It began with my piano instructor's observation that while my fingers were skilled, my heart remained silent at the piano. This comment launched a three-year journey of artistic and personal growth. I started deliberately choosing pieces that resonated with my own path of growth while immersing myself in the works of great composers. I shifted my focus beyond technical perfection to connect with the essence of what makes music meaningful. Through intensive practice, masterclasses, and collaborations with other musicians, I discovered that true artistry isn't defined by flawless execution alone. It's about understanding ourselves more deeply through music and using that understanding to connect meaningfully with others. Today, when my fingers touch the keys, they don't merely execute with precision—they speak with the authority of lived experience.
Could you tell us more about your award-winning work? For instance, how did you prepare it, bring it to life, or any interesting stories behind the scenes?
For my award-winning performance, I focused on Strauss' "The Blue Danube" and Liszt's "Spanish Rhapsody" - two pieces that trace my musical transformation. At first, "The Blue Danube" felt like nothing more than an insurmountable technical challenge. The intricate runs and complex emotional narrative seemed beyond my grasp. This was the beginning stage of my journey.
As I learned the piece, I realized that connecting with it required more than technical precision. I needed to understand its context and emotional landscape. This led me to Vienna, where standing by the actual Danube at sunrise transformed my approach. Watching the sun paint the river in shades of gold and silver awakened something in me - a vulnerability I hadn't allowed myself to experience before. I began keeping a daily journal, reflecting not only on my practice sessions but on the emotions Vienna stirred in me.
Similarly with Liszt's "Spanish Rhapsody," my interpretation deepened through both musical study and personal growth. Working with my professor, Ethan Dong revealed how the piece captured contrasts between external power and internal tenderness. The transformation of "La Folia" - where thunderous fortissimo octaves suddenly dissolve into a pianissimo passage - became a vehicle for expressing emotional complexity.
Through these pieces, my performance evolved from technically capable to emotionally authentic. The judges and audience responded to this transformation, noting how the music came alive in ways that transcended mere execution. What won the competition wasn't just playing the right notes, but revealing something genuine through them - a journey from technical proficiency to artistic truth that reflected my own personal growth.
What do you believe defines a great pianist, and how do you incorporate your unique style into your music?
I believe a great pianist transcends technical mastery to achieve emotional authenticity. While technical precision creates the foundation, what truly defines greatness is the ability to communicate genuine emotion through the instrument. For example, in Mozart's compositions, every marking is a doorway to feeling - precision isn't about perfectionism, it's about clarity of emotion.
My unique style balances structure with vulnerability. Studying Bach's fugues taught me that different emotions can coexist simultaneously, just as multiple voices interweave in counterpoint. I incorporate this understanding into my interpretations, particularly in pieces like Liszt's "Spanish Rhapsody," where I emphasize the contrast between external power and internal tenderness. The reflective quality I bring to quiet passages comes from my own emotional journey with each piece. When performing Strauss' "The Blue Danube," I balance technical demands with emotional impressions gathered from my travels. This connection between personal experience and musical interpretation has become the signature of my playing—technical precision that serves emotional truth rather than being an end in itself. The most powerful performances happen when I allow myself to be vulnerable at the piano, revealing genuine emotion through disciplined expression.
Can you recall a memorable moment from your career that had a significant impact on you?
One of the most transformative moments in my career came after performing Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto with the Glendale Youth Orchestra. During rehearsals, we had struggled to align our interpretation of the final theme's recapitulation. Despite technical precision from everyone involved, something essential was missing in our collective expression.
After hours of frustration, I took a risk and opened up to the orchestra about how that passage felt to me—like a confession of vulnerability, a moment where the composer was sharing something deeply personal. As I explained this perspective, the atmosphere in the rehearsal room shifted. Suddenly, the entire orchestra understood what we were reaching for, and our performance transformed into something far beyond technical execution.
That shift was powerful, but what truly changed me happened after the performance. A student violinist approached me with tears in her eyes and simply said, "Your music made me feel something I couldn't explain." In that moment, I realized how far I had come from equating successful performance with technical prowess. Her emotional response crystallized everything I had been learning about music's true power: its ability to break down walls between hearts, to express what words cannot, and to create bonds between strangers. This connection—raw, genuine, unexpected—showed me that music's greatest value lies not in perfection but in creating spaces where we can genuinely connect with one another.
