Mia Safdie is a 16-year-old pianist based in Michigan and California. Currently, she studies classical piano at the world-renowned Interlochen Arts Academy with Dr. Kara Huber. Previously, she took lessons at The Colburn School with Carmina Glicklich and currently takes Advanced III Music Theory classes at Colburn. In addition to this, she is a regional director for the Interlochen, MI region of the Back to BACH Project and an ambassador for The Colburn School through the Colburn Collective Fellowship as she gives multiple performances for donors, tier 1 schools, and care facilities.
Mia was featured on NPR's From The Top, recorded for the Warner Brothers Studios, and was featured on a live news broadcast for the Academy Awards (Oscars). She has performed at venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Pasadena Ambassador Auditorium, the Herbert Zipper Concert Hall, New England Conservatory's Williams Hall, and the Chiesa di San Domenico in Maiori as part of the Amalfi Coast Young Artist Concert Series.
Mia is an honor prize and medal winner for the 2023 Southern California Branch and Regional Junior Bach Festival. In addition, she has won first place in the 2023 Elite International Music Competition, first place in the 8th International Great Composers Competition, first prize in the 10th Ivy International Grand Prize of Music, second place in the 2024 Beethoven Young Musician Competition Vienna, second place in the 3rd Bremen International Piano Competition, second place in the 2024 Maurice Ravel Competition Paris, second place in the 2023 Charleston International Music Competition, third place in the 2024 CAPMT Sonata Competition, bronze prize in the 2024 Amadeus International Music Awards, and earned honorable mention in the 2024 William Knabe Thomas F. Hulbert International Piano Competition.
Mia, named a Southern California Honors Musician, won the 2023 and 2024 MTAC Open Adjudicated Festivals and the 2024 MTAC Contemporary Festival where she was awarded honor prizes, and was a finalist for the McAllister Honors Recital.
Mia has participated in festivals and intensive programs such as the Amalfi Coast Piano Festival, Interlochen Arts Piano Intensive, Idyllwild Instrumental Artist’s Intensive, and the Colburn Chamber Music Intensive. She has participated in studies and masterclasses with musicians such as HaeSun Paik, Kevin Fitzgerald, Bernadene Blaha, Bruce Brubaker, Joanne Pearce Martin, Wei-Lung Li, Thomas Lymenstull, Jim Walker, and Margaret Batjer.
In addition to her solo work, Mia has participated in the Ed and Mari Chamber Music Institute at Colburn and enjoys playing many chamber masterpieces such as the Schumann Quintet, Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1, Shostakovich Quintet, and more. Mia has also served as the pianist of the Colburn Advanced Youth Orchestra under the baton of Maxim Eshkenazy as well as principal pianist of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra under the baton of Leslie Dunner.