Scholarship Winners 2026

 

Coastal Concerts is pleased to announce our 2026 Music Scholarship awardees. The scholarships are available to student musicians residing in Delmarva and attending either middle or high school, public or private. Scholarship awards may be used for music camps, university courses, instrument purchases or repairs, or private music lessons. All student musicians are eligible.

Dorothy and Elizabeth Music Scholarship Award
Maxwell Brown

High School Musicality Award
Daniel Qi
Ethan Seman

Middle School Musicality Award
Sophia Zhou​​

 

Meet the Winners (shown above left to right)

 

Maxwell Brown
Maxwell Brown is a virtuosic 15-year-old violinist whose performances have been described as brilliant, thrilling, and breathtaking. He has now won our Dorothy and Elizabeth Music Scholarship Award an unprecedented three times. Max is a student at Juilliard Pre-College in New York, where he studies with Catherine Cho. Through the Perlman Music Program, he additionally studies with Itzhak Perlman. His other primary teachers and mentors include Brian Lewis, Timothy Schwarz, and Shelley Beard Santore.

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A winner of numerous competitions, Max has performed as a soloist with the Carolina Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and more than a dozen other professional, community, and youth orchestras. He has also won multiple fiddle contests and has shared the stage with renowned artists including Del McCoury, David Grisman, Alasdair Fraser, and Natalie Haas.

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Daniel Qi
Daniel Qi, a past recipient of our Dorothy and Elizabeth Music Scholarship Award, has now been named a winner of our High School Musicality Award. Daniel studies violin with Charles Parker at Temple Music Prep’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians. He made his orchestral debut at age eleven and has since appeared as a soloist with the Ocean City Pops, Newark Symphony Orchestra, Temple Music Prep Youth Chamber Orchestra, and Wilmington Community Orchestra. In 2026, he was named a YoungArts Award Winner with Distinction in Classical Music/Violin and participated in National YoungArts Week in Miami.

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Beyond music, Daniel excels academically as a Math League member, a USNCO National Exam qualifier, and captain of his school’s varsity Mock Trial team. He is a National Merit Scholarship winner and a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. In 2026, he won the Delaware Congressional Art Competition, and his artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.

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Daniel will attend Stanford University majoring in Biomedical Computation in the fall.

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Ethan Seman
Ethan Seman is a classically trained pianist from Salisbury, Maryland, and has studied with Ms. Luba Paskova since October 2021. His accomplishments include recognition as a 2022 Royal Conservatory of Music State Winner, four-time Piano Guild national winner, Classics for a Cause performer and committee member, and annual performer at Salisbury University’s Celebration of Great Composers Concert. Most notably, he won first place at the Crescendo International Music Competition at Carnegie Hall.

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A freshman with a GPA above 4.0, Ethan also plays baseball for James M. Bennett High School and the Delmarva Aces. He is honored to receive a High School Musicality Award from Coastal Concerts.

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Sophia Zhou
Twelve-year-old cellist Sophia Zhou is a 7th grader at Newark Charter School. She began cello at age four and currently studies with Priscilla Lee. Her recent honors include 1st Place at the 2025 Charleston International Music Competition, Runner-up in the 2026 Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, 2nd Chair Cello in the 2026 Delaware All-State Orchestra, and selection as the MTNA Delaware Junior Strings representative.

An active chamber and orchestral musician, Sophia is also a U.S. Ice Dance Final Juvenile Champion and volunteers at the Delaware Food Bank, where she earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award

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Congrats to All!​​

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