Portland Metropolitan Region

Kaylee Nah

Regional Director

Kaylee Nah, 15, is a sophomore at Sunset High School in Portland, Oregon. She has studied the violin under the instruction of Hae-Jin Kim since the age of five. She has also been in the Portland Youth Philharmonic Association (PYP) since 2018. Currently she serves as co-concertmaster of the Portland Youth Philharmonic orchestra and plays in a PYP quartet and the Camerata PYP chamber orchestra.

Kaylee has made many notable achievements, such as receiving the $2,000 Monday Musical Club Phillips Award for the best instrumental performance in 2024. In the same year she won first place in the OMEA State Championships for both solo violin and chamber ensemble, served as concertmaster for the 2024 Oregon Music Education Association All-State Symphony Orchestra, and was a winner of the Cognizart by MetroArts Inc. Young Artists Debut! Competition. In addition, she was the state winner of the MTNA Junior String Competition for the 2022-23 season and 2023-24 seasons. She won the 2023-24 NW Division and placed as one of the seven national finalists. In 2024 she was the alternate winner of the MTNA Senior String Competition.

Kaylee has played for many artists including Ray Chen, Benjamin Beilman, Carol Sindell, Giancarlo Castro D’Addona, Sunmi Chang, and Raúl Gómez-Rojas in masterclasses. She attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, where she served as concertmaster of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, with a full scholarship in the summer of 2024 and the Heifetz International Music Institute in the summer of 2023. 

Kaylee strongly believes in serving the community with music, and connecting with others through performing and teaching. She joined Project Prelude in September 2023, and has served as Regional Director of the Portland Metropolitan Region since June 2024, holding The Cammie Lee Distinguished Chair in Music.

(Fall 2024)