- My name is Maya Weaver.

I go to Catskill High School and I play the flute.

(gentle flute music) The piece I played today, it's called Winter Spirits by Katherine Hoover.

And it's a very modern piece.

It's something I've never played before, but when I play it I always think of like some forest or spirits are kind of interacting with each other.

(upbeat flute music) It was very difficult trying to find the musicality in it and just do my own thing with it.

It has like no key signature and very few bar lines.

And it just allows for a lot of freedom to just interpret the piece however you want to.

(gentle flute music) I was with my private lesson teacher and she actually, she gave me the piece and she recommended it.

I did try to find some recordings of how other people played it.

And I did get a little bit of inspiration from that, but when I was practicing it on my own, I kind of added my own stuff to it.

I do have a role model.

When I first started playing my very first band teacher that I ever had.

Her name is Annie Druello and she was just, I just love her so much.

She really got me into playing the flute and she stayed after school with me so many times and just really helped me a lot to get where I am today.

(gentle flute music) I definitely want to thank my private lesson teacher, her name's Caitlin Ippolito.

She, I've been with her since I was in sixth grade.

So for like five years now, and she's the one who nominated me for this.

She's helped me achieve a lot and I'm really thankful for her.

I definitely want to thank my parents.

They're always there to support me and bring me to all the music festivals that I go to and everything and they just, I love them so much.

(gentle flute music)