My name is Kai, and this summer, I've been accepted as a student at Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival. I'm raising funds to help my family better afford this experience for me.

I've been very involved with music throughout my life, playing piano and trumpet individually and in various music groups. I enjoy listening to wide scopes of music from movie theme songs to present day pop but always love coming back to classical music. My education has always been very important to me throughout my life. I was baptized and confirmed at Grace Lutheran Church in Wenatchee, Washington, and since moving to Tacoma my family and I now attend St. Marks Lutheran Church by the Narrows. I enjoy playing preludes and special music when possible and currently sing in the youth choir. I also participated in a summer marimba camp offered through my Church in which I worked together with others while playing various versions of marimbas and having a lot of fun in the process. I live in a very musical family, with everyone playing at least one instrument. On top of this, both my parents are teachers who graduated from Lutheran colleges. I have two older siblings, in college and grad school. It is a very loving family in which I am always surrounded with positive encouragement and eternally grateful for.

As a pianist, I have participated in many competitions and performances, including the Chapter "Play-Offs Competition" (1st Place Winner 2025), the Tacoma Music Collaborative Trio Festival 2023 & 2024, Concerto Festival 2024 & 2025, Tacoma Museum of Glass "December Musicales" 2023 & 2024, February Artist Teacher Weekend. With the Tacoma Music Collaborative Festivals, I was able to play Beethoven's Sonata No. 20 in G Major with a professional orchestra and Mozart's Allegro Assad Trio with a professional cellist & violist. This spring I'll be playing Grieg's Concerto in A Minor 2nd movement with the collaborative orchestra. Some of the pieces I've played this year are Liebestraum by Liszt, Humoresque by Dvorak, and will be learning Un Sospiro by Liszt. I've taken private lessons for nine years years, played piano in jazz band for one year, and played trumpet in school ensembles as well.

I want to go to LSM because it sounds like it would be a great opportunity to develop my piano & music skills, be able to learn from talented faculty, make new friends and be surrounded by talented musicians. I've been wanting to learn the organ for a while now as well, so think that would be really cool. I also think living on a college campus will be fun and a good learning opportunity and help prepare me for college. I also like the idea of being in a warm, humid climate coming from the rainy Northwest.

I am excited for this opportunity, and wish to thank you for your support and generosity! Thank you!

Note from LSM: LSM offers up to $500 as a 50% match toward student fundraising. That is, if Kai raises $1,000, he'll be eligible for the maximum $500 match. Online contributions through this page, or checks mailed in Kai's name, are eligible for matching. To mail a check (and avoid online processing fees), make the check out to "Lutheran Summer Music," with Kai's name in the memo line. Mail checks to LSM, PO Box 8687, Minneapolis, MN 55408. Thank you for supporting Kai!

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival (LSM) is the nation’s premier faith-based music academy for high school students. In addition to advanced musical instruction and numerous performance opportunities, LSM students form an intentional community, living together for four weeks on a Lutheran college campus. Since 1981, this unique and immersive program has guided the lives of young musicians who credit LSM as the starting place for their future careers and vocations.

LSM was founded to celebrate and extend the rich musical heritage of the Lutheran church. Our founders believed that by providing high-quality training and performance opportunities to young musicians they could cultivate a lifelong love of classical and sacred music, thus preserving these art forms for generations to come.

Kai M. LSM 2025 Tuition

By Lutheran Summer Music

Kai M. LSM 2025 Tuition

Help Kai get to LSM!