Brick Pianist Wins PBS's Celebration of Music Competition

BRICK, NJ — A Brick Township pianist has earned a trip to Los Angeles after winning the PBS Celebration of Music last month.

Nicholas Blum, a 2016 Brick Memorial High School graduate who is studying music at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, won the regional competition that included internet voting and a finals event in Bethlehem, PA, in mid-May. The competition is hosted by teen music star Ethan Bortnick, a pianist and composer who headlined his own world tour at age 16.

After voting online, the competitors all were invited to the Bethlehem event, where the audience viewed videos from the contestants and were able to vote.

"Each audience vote counted 10," Blum said. While other contestants had large groups of 10 or 20 people in the audience, he had just his parents, he said. Other audience members were there just to see Bortnick, he said.

Blum won by 20,000 points.

"I was very very shocked," Blum said. "I started to get emotional onstage."

As part of winning, Blum performed live and played his arrangement of the national anthem for the audience (you can watch it below).

The next step is that Blum and another competitor who received the Producer's Award will be flown out to Los Angeles, where they will get to record a single. They also will be able to perform and the performance will be carried on all PBS stations, Blum said. That is expected to happen next summer, Blum said.

He sais there's also a possibility of signing a contract with Sun and Sky Entertainment, a recording label.

"It was a very fun experience," said Blum, who has said he hopes to someday attain the celebrity of Liberace.

Blum, who performs under the name NGXB (his initials, Nicholas George Xavier Blum), was awed by . He said he loves musical theater, and got a taste of it in high school, both performing onstage and with the orchestra.

This sumer he will get to shadow the assistant producer on the show "Dear Evan Hansen" on Broadway; his favorite musical is "Jersey Boys," which highlights the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Take a look at Blum's performance in Bethlehem.

Photos provided by Nicholas Blum; Blum and Ethan Bortnick; Blum amd David Rosenthal, Billy Joel's producer; Blum and his parents.