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Mellen Duo


The Mellen Duo is comprised of Megan Tandar (14) on piano and Ellen Hayashi (16) on violin, students in The Gifted Music School Conservatory in Salt Lake City, Utah. The duo began working together in the spring of 2019, and performed with the Utah Symphony in their Salute to Youth concert in September, 2019. Megan is a piano student of Dr. Vera Oussetskaia-Watanabe and has received many accolades, including being a finalist in the Seattle International Piano Competition and one of ten participants in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival in 2019. She also has performed twice with the Utah Symphony. As a collaborative pianist, Megan has been playing chamber music for the past three years. She has performed with Roberto Diaz, Laurie Smukler and Clive Greensmith. Megan holds a 4.0 GPA and is in 9th grade at West High School’s International Baccalaureate program. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her friends. Ellen is an 11th grade honors student at Cottonwood High School and a Dorothy and Richard Starling Foundation Scholar studying violin with Eugene Watanabe. Ellen made her orchestral debut at age 10 with the Utah Philharmonic Orchestra, and also has performed twice with the Utah Symphony. She is a two-time finalist at the Coeur D’Alene National Young Artists Competition and a top prize winner in the ENKOR International Music Violin Competition. As a member of The BEAR Quartet, Ellen was a first prize winner in the Pasadena Conservatory of Music Chamber Music Competition, the WDAV Young Chamber Musicians’ Competition, the ENKOR International Music Competition, and the St. Paul String Quartet Competition, and was featured on NPR’s From The Top (Show 367). Besides violin, Ellen likes hiking, being with friends, watching Netflix and YouTube videos, and hanging out with her dog Treble.

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