Vishal Kumar is a flute player from South Brunswick, New Jersey. He began playing the flute at the age of ten and has grown a love for learning music and performing ever since. He has participated in summer programs such as the Aria International Summer Academy and Beyond the Masterclass. He has played in masterclasses for Molly Barth, Bonita Boyd, Jasmine Choi, Bart Feller, Aaron Goldman, Jonathan Keeble, Donna Shin, and Jim Walker. He is a 2024 YoungArts national winner in classical music and a volunteer tutor for the Do-Re-Mi project, a non-profit organization that offers free music lessons.
His former teachers include Sam Tobias, Lois Herbine, and Sandy Olson. He currently studies in the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division where he is a member of the chamber music program and
Pre-College Philharmonic Orchestra, and studies privately with Soo-Kyung Park. He has earned awards include first prize in the Golden Classical Music Awards 2023 competition, winner of the 2023 NFA High School Flute Ensemble competition, and winner of the MSM Pre-College 2023 chamber music competition.
During the summer of 2024, Vishal will be attending the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute at the Kennedy Center. He will begin his undergraduate studies in flute performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in the fall of 2024 studying with Marianne Gedigian.