My name is Daniel Haiduc. I am 15 years old, and I joined Mrs. Clarfield's private studio in the fall of 2021. During these two years she taught me a very valuable lesson: a young musician has to always find ways to give back to his local community. She inspired me to volunteer to teach piano to very young students, and play in many Performathons: raising money for the Homefront Organization, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and World Central Kitchen to benefit Ukraine. This year I organized a virtual Instagram Live Concert to Benefit Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and I was thrilled to raise over $1000 dollars for children and families in need. I also recently performed as a Piano Youth Ambassador at Princeton University's Lewis Center for Arts in a program started by Legacy Arts International.

I started my first piano lessons in kindergarten, playing in piano recitals at the Liederkranz Foundation, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, Greenwich House Music School, Tishman Auditorium at Mannes School of Music, and more recently at Merkin Concert Hall, Westminster Conservatory, McCarter Theatre in Princeton, The College of NJ's Mayo Hall, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

During the past two years I won the first prize in my age group at the Piano Teachers Congress of New York Piano Competition, AADGT International Young Musicians Competition, and the grand prix at the Young Maestro International Music Virtual Competition. I reached the finals of Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition, and won a special prize for the best performance of a piece by an underrepresented composer. In 2023 I was awarded the third prize at the XIV Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, CT, in the very competitive Young Artist category, and I was invited to play in the Winners Recital.

Mrs. Clarfield also encourages her students to perform in masterclasses. Over the years I played for Professor Meng-Chieh Liu, Alessio Bax, Hung-Kuan Chen, Mikhail Voskresensky, Yoheved Kaplinsky and John Perry. I have been also taking music theory, analysis and composition lessons with Eric Chernov. I am a fellow of the Artemisia Akademie at Juilliard under the guidance of Tema Blackstone and Hung-Kuan Chen.

This fall I started my sophomore year at Princeton High School, where I play jazz in the Studio Band. In my free time I study math and I enjoy playing tennis. I am also passionate about taking aerial photographs and videos from everywhere I travel.