Gallia performs on Show 399, recorded at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles, California. As a teenager, she appeared on Show 272 and on Show 277 with Quartet Lumière, both recorded in 2013.

Gallia Kastner has been the concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony since 2016 and has won numerous local, national, and international competitions, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She is a winner of the Pasadena Showcase Competition, the Cooper International Violin Competition, the Blount Slawson National Concerto Competition in Montgomery, Alabama, the Triennial Johansen International Competition in Washington DC, and most recently the American Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, which includes an opportunity to solo with the orchestra in the Fall of 2019. An avid chamber musician, Gallia was a member of the Lumiére String Quartet that won first place at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and she was also the violinist of Trio Solaris, which collaborated with the Trey McIntyre Project at Jacob’s Pillow. Some of Gallia’s performances with orchestras include The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, The Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra in Pennsylvania, and The Montgomery Symphony. Gallia performs on an 1843 Giovanni Francesco Pressenda Violin on generous loan from the Mandell Collection of Southern California.

Program Bio from Show 272:

Gallia Kastner (violin), 16, is from Arlington Heights, Illinois, where she attends the Music Institute of Chicago and studies under Almita and Roland Vamos. She is a recipient of From the TopÕs Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. This year, she won Montgomery Symphony OrchestraÕs Blount-Slawson Young Artist Competition. Outside of music, Gallia is very involved in her church youth group.

Nathaniel performs on Show 399, recorded at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, California.

Nathaniel Yue (cello), 14 is from San Marino, California and in the eighth grade at Huntington Middle School. He studies cello with Vardan Gasparyan at the Colburn Community School, and piano with Nobuyo Nishizaka. He is part of the Honors Chamber Music Scholarship Program and is the Regional Co-Director of Back to Bach project in Greater Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley. Nathaniel has performed in Moscow, Carnegie Hall, and Musikverein in Vienna. In 2020, Nathaniel won first place in the 2020 Bellflower Symphony Concerto Competition for Young Artists and was also accepted to the 2020 Piatigorsky International Cello Festival Young Cellist Workshop, but unfortunately the performances connected to these events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of music, Nathaniel enjoys video games, learning to code, math club, skiing, biking, and eating with family and friends.

Peter was named Host of From the Top in January 2020.

Peter Dugan’s position is sponsored by Susan and Gerald Slavet.

Peter first appeared on From the Top Show 158, recorded in April 2007, at age 18.

Peter Dugan prizes versatility as the hallmark of today’s musician and advocates for a classical music culture that is inclusive and welcoming to all. That approach has manifested in a multifaceted and dynamic career as a pianist, composer, collaborator, and radio host.

A musician equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms, he has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and around the world. His performance of Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas was described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the San Francisco Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic” and was recorded for release; he subsequently performed the work with the Houston Symphony with Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Other orchestral appearances include the Delaware, Kansas City, New Albany, Johnstown and Mankato symphonies; Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra.

Peter is heard on radios nationwide weekly as host of NPR’s From the Top, which aims to celebrate and empower young musicians. His approach stems from his commitment to sharing classical music through his warm-hearted openness to young voices; in addition to hosting the show, he leads inspiring collaborations, conversations, and performances with the young artists.

Peter is an active and passionate collaborator who has toured extensively with violinists Joshua Bell and Charles Yang, and baritone John Brancy—partnerships which have resulted in recording projects, documentaries, and music videos, and a first-prize win at the Montreal International Music Competition.

Recent and upcoming highlights include Yang & Dugan Duo appearances at Kristupo and Rheingau music festivals, with the Malaysia Philharmonic and on tour in China; a European tour with Joshua Bell including performances at London’s Wigmore Hall and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw; collaborations with clarinetist Mark Dover, violinist Tessa Lark, and baritone John Brancy, among others, at the Moab Music Festival, Carmel Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Cliburn Festival America 250,  Café Carlyle and Kaufman Music Center.

As a composer, Peter has performed his own works everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Joe’s Pub, and his arrangements have been released by Disney+. Peter co-wrote his first concerto with his brother Leonardo Dugan. The jazz-inflected, improvisation-laced “Brothers Concerto” was commissioned and premiered by the Kalamazoo Symphony and Boston Conservatory at Berklee respectively with Peter as soloist in Spring 2026.

He is head of the Artist in Residence program at pianoSonoma and a founding faculty member of the Resonance and Soundboard Institutes at Honeywell Arts Academy.

Peter Dugan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He resides in Montclair, NJ and is a Yamaha Artist.