Noah Kellman, Pianist and Composer

Pianist Noah Kellman, 17, is a senior at Manlius Pebble Hill High School. He has achieved several honors, which include seven awards from Downbeat Magazine, three for improvisation, three for original composition, and one for best jazz group. He received one of four outstanding musicianship awards at the national Berklee High School Jazz Competition in both 2006 and 2007 and he was also accepted as one of three pianists nationally to attend the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony in the summer of 2005. He attended the Skidmore Jazz Institute summer 2006 where he was presented with the 2006 Dean Harrington Memorial Scholarship Award from the New York State School Music Association. He also participated in the Berklee Summer Jazz Workshop as of one of 2 pianists chosen internationally the summer of 2006 and was also chosen as one of 2 pianists nationally to attend the Vail Jazz Workshop in the summer of 2006. In 2007, Noah attended the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony for the second time. He also won a Downbeat Student Music Award for his composition "Pandora's Box". In 2008, Noah received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer's Award for his composition "Get Lost", and was also selected as one of four pianists chosen from an international group of applicants age 30 and under to attend the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency program. He also received three Downbeat Awards, including one for Best Jazz Soloist, one for Outstanding Original Composition, and one for Best Jazz Group with the Manlius Pebble Hill School Duo.
Currently, Noah is a founding member of a popular local combo which performs frequently in the Central New York area, and the band has been asked back three summers to Jazz in the Square, a downtown Syracuse jazz festival. He also leads his own trio, called the Noah Kellman Trio. Noah is also the pianist for the Manlius Pebble Hill Jazz Combo, which took third place at the National Berklee High School Jazz Competition in 2006 and first place in 2007, as well as the Young Lions of Central New York, a conglomerate all-star big band.