Wayland High School junior pianist Nate Pepin of Dorr earned a “superior” rating from the Michigan Federation of Music Clubs’ National  Federation of Music Festival Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Pepin performed Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and a “Fantasy” by Rachmaninoff in the festival.

The son of Amy Van’t Hof and Denis Pepin, he has been playing piano since 2011.

“A friend of my husband’s was moving and gave my husband their piano,” explained Amy. “Nate began to play little things on it. My husband thought he might enjoy it, so he began looking for a teacher. After a few phone calls, he found a professor at Grand Valley who referred him to a 13-year-old home schooler, Megan Borr, who was teaching under the auspices of Marilyn Slenk, a teacher in Grand Rapids.”

Borr began classically training him and introduced him to Clemente, Haydn, Bach, and Ellmenreight and many more.

He began participating in the Sonatina festivals at St Cecilia’s Music Hall in Grand Rapids. His teacher went away to college in 2015 and then Pepin began seeing Lorinda Vanderwerp, who is a member of the Piano Teachers’ Forum of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Musicians’ League and St. Cecilia’s. She continued teaching him in the studies of classical music.

Besides attending the annual St Cecilia Sonatina Festival, he began taking part in the National Federation of Music clubs Junior Music League Federation Festival annually at St. Cecilia’s Music Hall and Grand Valley State University. He also participates yearly in SATs for piano, where in 2016, he was a state semifinalist.

His mother said his favorite composers are (classical) Beethoven and Mozart, (romantic) Joplin, and Rachmaninoff, (modern) Jon Schmidt.

In his spare time, he enjoys going on YouTube and learning songs from Adele, John Legend One Republic, Queen, Elton John and many more.

At Wayland High school, he is a member of both the select and concert choirs.

“He loves singing and likes to help accompany for Mrs. (Ricci) Sabin and Mrs. Wassink, and his classmates in their music showcases. He also will be going to state semifinals for his voice Solo, Duet, (with Hannah Damveld) and ensemble with Select Choir.

He wants to pursue a degree in choral directing from either Grand Valley or Western Michigan University.