Great musical talent doesn’t need to come from an Emmy award or some other trophy that serves your good at making music. Great musical talent comes from each and every note that strikes a chord into the souls of your listener, and every word in the lyrics carrying the heart and emotion that they can feel. Couple that with a beautiful clash of different instruments meshing together to make a bangin’ tune, and you got something that can potentially change people from the inside and most importantly, vibe to!
This week, we will be sharing with you the musical maestros that kept the round table of the Grand Jury Panel of the 2023 LIT Talent Awards bright and warm. So let’s give this masters of the melody a warm MUSE welcome!
California-based Zhiyi Wang is a well-known name within the classical music and philharmonic scene within his home country of China. Getting his stripes from winning multiple awards thanks to his many orchestral works that he composed for film and TV scores, modern ballet movements, even loaning his talents and melodic genius over to pop music singles that you may have heard in sometimes!
Zhiyi’s musical career really started to kick off when he participated as a care member of the music crew that was responsible for crafting a masterpiece soundtrack for the historic-making 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony. Including some of his monumental creations at the time such as You and Me performed by Sarah Brightman and Li Huan, Dream of the Five Rings, Ritual, and Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron.
Although many of his works are oriental to its very core, trained listeners can also pick out some western inspirations that he incorporates into his musical works he obtains from other classical literature. Of which created a complex mesh of oriental tinctures and western avant-garde that uses classical traditions as a backbone.
Today, Zhiyi Wang continues to perfect his craft in orchestral music as the President, Composer and Music Producer at his own recording studio he founded and based in China, Z-1 Music Studio where he continues to work closely with famous classical music groups and talents such as Lang Lang, the china National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Senzoku Gakuen New Philharmonic, Sound Ways Ensemble, Ensemble Les Amis, Baroque Camerata, and many more throughout Asia, North America and Europe.
For now, though, Zhiyi is bringing his expertise in the refinement and raw emotion of classical stringed and brass instruments in the LIT Talent Awards Grand Jury Panel for the 2022 competition year!
With a staggering number of award wins and near-endless number of nominations for the best singer/songwriter performer, Natalie Jean is an incredibly rare breed of musicians whose voice cuts deep into the soul of the listener who comes across her melodies and vocals.
Natalie’s music that she crafts with a deep passion often reflects deeply on the social stigma of her Haitian upbringing, and always putting those negative thinkings straight to bed that she is exactly like the rest of us.
Being a master of none and jack of all traits in her songwriting prowess, Natalie has created many musical works for all kinds of genres ranging from Jazz, Pop, R&B, Blues, World, Rock, Country, Americana, Inspirational, Adult Contemporary, Alternative, and Dance. Just to name a few! And her versatility is thanks to her role models she is inspired by like Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Elle Fitzgerald, and of course, Titanic’s very own Celine Dion!
Alongside releasing a total of six albums titled Obsession, Natalie Jean, Lecons D’Amour, Unafraid, Haitian Mwen Renmenw, and Where Do We Go From Here?, Natalie has released a series of singles and hosts the “Chatting With Nat” broadcast on the SIMRadio Network and being one of the founding chairs of the Sisters In Music group to promote educational opportunities and collaborative works for women.
Today, Natalie Jean still remains as the Founder of Natalie Jean Musicas well as performing at various venues throughout the United States. Additionally, Natalie also brings her positive attitude over to our very own Grand Jury Panel in the LIT Talent Awards. Welcome aboard, Nat!
Like our previous musical maestro, Nicki Kris is also one of the founding members of the Sisters In Music group to give women in music the opportunities they deserve in the music industry. Additionally, Nicki is also the CEO of her music label, Nicki Kris Music. Where she continues to rake in a number of awards and topping the billboards and iTunes store as a powerhouse of a singer and songwriter in the music world.
Releasing single after single in her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, he songs have captivated the global stage and brought in new listeners and fans from all over the world thanks to her unique soul music that projected her to stardom with her debut album, I Come Alive in 2013. Eventually, her style evolved into the Americana-inspired EP Dream Big the year after, and then perfecting her style with several electronic-inspired singles that made up her award-winning album release, Heartbeat in 2019!
Her accolades don’t stop there: Nicki’s songs have also been featured in several award-winning movies on all levels, many TV shows, and radio stations still including one of her many songs in their playlists worldwide. And for the past eight years, her name has never been absent from the official ballot box for the Grammy Awards in countless categories. Nicki’s contribution to her career also stems from being an active vocalist and collaborator in many of her fellow artist’s projects, one of the more prominent success stories that marks her a billboard-charting artist with the contemporary blues album, Devil Is Back by Oliver Sean.
Right now, though, alongside helming her company and doing her part in the Sisters Is Music, Nicki is also hosting her radio show, Mixing It with Nicki Kris on the SIMRadio Network as well as being part of the Grand Jury Panel in the LIT Talent Awards too!
Music is more than just how good it is mastered in the studio and what the weigh of the words found in the lyrics really means to the listener. It’s all about the tempo that each and every aspect in the track working together closely to carry the momentum of the beat to not only make the message clear, but also to vibe to! And with our musical maestros, that is exactly what they are looking for in a great single!
Our Grand Jury Panel doesn’t just stop of musical geniuses either! We’ve got filmmakers, video directors, music producers, and even YouTubers that are looking for the world’s next best talent. So take a look at out current roster of juries today and check out their greatest pieces of works yet!
While you’re at it, make you don’t miss out our recent feature of the 2023 Vega Digital Awards Grand Jury Panel for 2023 too!