Zachary Lew
COMPOSER • VIOLINIST • LEARNER
Composing since age 6 with 200+ works across classical and jazz.
Winner of the Simon-Fiset Composition Competition for roughly a sonata,
state winner of the MTNA Composition Competition for sketchy sketches,
and 3rd place in The American Prize National Competition for ap exams.
Violinist in Bellevue Youth Symphony (Assistant Concertmaster) and Redmond High School (Concertmaster).
Passion for physics, mathematics, and languages.
Music resume • YouTube • Noteflight
Select Compositions
roughly a sonata
(2025)
Violin, Piano (score)
Winner, Simon-Fiset Composition Competition (2025)
The title explains it all, really. Having studied sonata form for years, I wanted to try my own spin on it while keeping the “essence” of a sonata in mind - two themes, developing the material, recap, coda. I specifically wanted to focus on that development part- putting motifs in odd time signatures, inverting them, combining them in interesting ways. The result is an energetic, playful romp through keys, moods, and textures.
ap exams
(2024)
Violin, Cello, Piano (score)
3rd Place, The American Prize, The Charles Ives Award (2025)
I wrote this while procrastinating studying for them.
sketchy sketches for a tricky trio (2025)
Trumpet, Clarinet, Piano (score)
State Winner, MTNA Senior Composition Competition (2025)
This was a big experiment for me. In this piece, I wanted to play with colors, gestures, and nebulous ideas, less on concrete themes. This was also an experiment in writing for winds; I hadn’t written much for winds to be played, so I was grateful for the opportunity to do so. Lastly, this was also an experiment in form: it’s one of my first multi-movement works, so it was a fun challenge to toy with how the movements relate.
Performances
Junior Violin Recital
June 22, 2025
00:13 – Preludio from Partita No. 3 in E Major – J.S. Bach
05:44 – Sonata for Violin and Piano – Claude Debussy
21:09 – roughly a sonata – Zachary Lew
29:20 – Violin Concerto in E Minor – Julius Conus