Luke performs in a piano duo with Elio Gaviria on Show 416.

Luke Magee (piano), 17, from LaGrange, Illinois, is a senior at Vine Academy and a member of Merit School of Music’s Conservatory. Luke participates in the piano program and is also a percussionist in the Wind Symphony and Philharmonic, and is in the Kepley percussion studio. He studies with Ann Birman, Maya Galperin, Elena Doubovitskia, Brandon Podjasek, and Angela Kepley. Luke has been playing piano for 12 years and participates in piano forums, master classes, and duet rehearsals. He is also a percussionist in large ensembles such as Merit’s Philharmonic (Principle Timpanist) and the Merit Wind Ensemble (Principle Percussion. Among his many accomplishments, Luke placed first in the 2021 Merit Solo Competition, first in the Charleston International Baroque, European and Summer competitions, second in the 2021 Society of American Musicians, and he won a gold medal in the North Shore Teacher Association Sonata Competition. Outside of music, Luke enjoys playing chess and other strategy games as well as flying his drone and taking high altitude pictures and videos. He also moderates a large number of discord servers (digital communities centered around members’ interests, such as gaming, music, or watching movies) and enjoys following the stock market.

Elio performs in a piano duo with Luke Magee on Show 416.

Elio Gaviria (piano), 17, from Chicago, Illinois, has been a student at the Merit School of Music since 2016, where he studies under Toshiko Suzuki. In his time at Merit, Elio has had many unique experiences working as a collaborative pianist in piano duos, piano trios, accompanying a wide variety of instrumentalists and vocalists, as well as performing as a pianist with Merit School’s top percussion ensemble and orchestra. As a soloist, Elio has won awards in numerous competitions, including second place in the Illinois State Music Teachers Association (ISTMA) North Piano Competition. He has also had the opportunity to work with many notable piano teachers nationally and internationally, including Alexander Romanovsky and Pavlina Dokovska. Elio has been honored to perform at many events, but one of his most treasured accomplishments has been the invitation by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to perform in their Latino Alliance – Noche Navidena, where he performed Beethoven Piano Sonata op. 2, no. 2 in A Major. Beginning in September 2022, Elio will start his first year at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, studying piano performance. Outside of studying piano, Elio enjoys playing guitar as a second instrument. He also enjoys playing soccer and chess and going to art museums and record stores.