Chicagoan Brandon Harper is among the nation's top youth jazz pianists just a few years after formally taking up the instrument. 

 

Brandon, who began Jazz Studies at Northwestern University in 2023, showcased exceptional musical talent in high school, but initially as a drummer. In 2021, for instance, he was named a percussionist for the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Band. 

 

But in November 2019, having surreptitiously started teaching himself on a small keyboard at home, he gave notice of change to come. "Brandon hopped on piano and played the rehearsal (as a substitute)," his high school choir director recalled. "Not only could he decipher the harmonic progressions by ear, but he had memorized all of the little intricacies of what basically amounts to two hours of straight music. I don't know of any professionals, let alone high school students who could do that."

 

Brandon also made an indelible musical mark with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, first as a classical percussionist, then as a jazz drummer and finally, as a jazz pianist. Brandon likewise excelled as a jazz drummer his freshman and sophomore years at Merit School of Music. He played drums as a sophomore and piano as a junior with Ravinia Jazz Scholars.

 

Brandon, one of the 2024 YoungArts winners for jazz piano, was selected one of 15 fellows in this summer's annual Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Jazz, where he will be coached by jazz masters Billy Childs, Rufus Reid and Steve Wilson. Brandon will conclude his summer by leading a trio in the NextGenJazz Series at the Chicago Jazz Festival.