All the Right Notes: Young Pianist to Give Third Carnegie Hall Performance

At 13, William "Willy" Lehninger Swist has been playing the piano for as long as he can remember. Music, as they say, is in his blood. Several of his grandparents and both of his parents are internationally renowned professional musicians. His mother, Marcia Lehninger, is a violinist, and his father, Christopher Swist, is a percussionist, as well as a recording engineer and professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He was exposed to this high level of musical influence from a young age, and says he tried violin, drums and percussion before discovering his immense aptitude for piano. "I tried piano and had more interest in piano," he said of his prodigal beginnings on the instrument in a virtual interview from Simsbury, Conn. "I'm enjoying it." Willy began his formal study at the young age of six with Raquel Moreno at the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC), where he debuted as a concerto soloist with the BMC String Orchestra in 2019 and presented three solo recitals. By age nine, he had won first place in the 2021 Charleston International Baroque Music Competition as well as first place in the 2021 Aegio International Piano Competition. A resident of Spofford who also lives part-time in Connecticut to accommodate both his parents' work as well as his musical studies as an honors student in the Young Artist Program at the Lucy Moses School at the Kaufman Music Center in New York City, Willy keeps up a dedicated schedule of online homeschooling, participation in ensembles, online music classes and about four to five hours of daily practice. He attended Chesterfield School for several years where he can recall giving concerts in the school gymnasium before he made the switch to homeschooling. In the fall of 2023, he started at the Kaufman Music Center, where he studies with Igal Kesselman. In 2022, he was a semi-finalist for the Kaufman International Youth Piano Competition and selected as a finalist for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra's Stephen Hough Masterclass with his performance of Haydn's D-Major Piano Concerto. And then, at the ripe old age of 11, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in July of 2023 as part of the Hotchkiss Piano Portals Gala Concert. "I get a little nervous," he said of the lead-up to his first Carnegie Hall performance. "But once I start playing, I'm not as nervous. I really enjoy the piano they have and the acoustics." Later that year, in August, he was selected to participate at the Mozarteum University Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Brazil, Willy performed a full-length recital for the "Música no Museu" series at Palácio São Clemente in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 2023. "It's a mixed feeling of pride, but also relief that his hard work is being recognized and rewarded," expressed his mother, Marcia Lehninger, of Willy's musical accomplishments. While he plays on a Yamaha piano in Simsbury, he has a Steinway in Spofford. He prefers the Steinway, he says, for its "lighter action," which he explained to mean that the keys are light and can play softer. Although he has occasionally performed on electric pianos during some of his outreach concerts for convenience, like a fundraiser for Montessori Schoolhouse of Cheshire County in 2022, he says he's not accustomed to hearing classical music on electric instruments. In 2024, he performed at the Henry Schneider Young Artists Concert and the Kaufman Center Contemporary Music Festival at Merkin Hall and returned to Carnegie Hall for the second time in a summer piano festival. He won the 2024 New York Piano Society Elena Leonova International Young Pianists Competition and the 2025 Kaufman Music Center Concerto Competition. "It can be a surprise to win because some of the competitions can be very selective," Willy said of the other young pianists who compete from around the world. When not playing piano, some of Willy's pastimes include swimming at his local YMCAs, bike riding, photography and composing. Like many teens, he also has a fondness for playing video games with his father. Now in the ninth grade, he says he enjoys many of his school subjects, like math, English and physical science. As for the future beyond high school, he envisions piano as continuing to be his primary pursuit. "I think I might keep doing what I'm doing now and play professionally and possibly go to a music conservatory for college," he said. On March 29, 2025, he will make his Zankel Hall debut at Carnegie Hall, performing Franz Liszt's Concert Etude No. 2 in F Minor, S. 144, "La leggierezza." It's the largest of the three performance halls at Carnegie. The concert is presented by the New York Piano Society and Artistic Director Natasha Paremski and will also feature New York City Ballet Concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen and the Grammy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey in Tchaikovsky's epic Piano Trio. "Each of the Carnegie performances have been celebratory capstones of months of his detailed work on piano masterworks by Chopin, Schumann and now Liszt," said his father, Chris Swist. "It's like a graduation ceremony for each piece, and with family and friends." As for Willy, he knows there will be the expected jitters before his debut at Zankel Hall, but says it will be as meaningful to him as his previous Carnegie Hall performances, adding, "All the times I played there were special." Those interested in watching Willy Lehninger Swist perform online, can search his name at YouTube.com for videos of his recitals, competitions and at-home playing.