Middle school musician fine tunes bright future

Though Hudson Seerden is only 12 years old, his dedication to the performing arts is far from child’s play.

Seerden began studying piano at age 7 and has since expanded his skillset to encompass violin, singing and acting. Through passion and diligence, he has won numerous accolades both locally and globally, including a gold medal at the 2025 Piano Star International Competition.

Before tasting gold, however, Seerden worked hard alongside his longtime piano instructor, Kathleen Stephenson Sadoff. With her guidance, he reached the Piano Star Grand Finals three times in a row, earning multiple performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City.

Notably, Seerden says his father first taught him the basics of piano. But as his ambition to be the best grew, he started training under Stephenson Sadoff to strengthen his fundamentals and consistently advance.

“We got a real teacher,” Seerden says. “And that’s when I really started to rocket boost inside of my studies, and that’s how I got to where I am now.”

When he’s not completing coursework for online charter school Ohio Virtual Academy, Seerden practices piano anywhere from 28 to 30 hours per week. In addition, he takes violin lessons with Tatiana Hanna, participates in the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra and lends his voice to the Columbus International Children’s Choir.

These commitments might seem daunting, especially for someone so young, but for Seerden, being surrounded by so many mentors and peers allows him to feel like a vital thread in the city’s vibrant arts scene.

“The singing teacher knows the choir teacher, the choir teacher knows the theory teacher, the theory teacher knows the piano teacher, (and) the piano teacher knows the violin teacher,” Seerden says. “They talk to each other all the time, and it’s really an amazing opportunity to be part of that tight-knit community that’s inside of Columbus.”

Seerden says that sense of support empowers him to keep pushing forward, especially as he explores more singing and acting opportunities. In mid-May, he embarked on another New York adventure, this time to spend some time with his acting coach Allen Fawcett.

“It’s fun to be able to look at something that you’ve created, and then be able to play that composition yourself.” – Hudson Seerdan

On that same trip, Seerden got to see celebrated actor Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, Swiss Army Man) in his one-man play Every Brilliant Thing. This came after Radcliffe, who previously collaborated with Fawcett on a TV project, sent Seerden a video message encouraging him in his music studies.

“Daniel Radcliffe knows me; I mean, I know it’s insane,” Seerden says. “I can’t even believe these words are coming out of my mouth.”

Going forward, Seerden says he hopes to continue making music, a goal that extends to writing his own compositions with help from music theory tutor David Nelson Tomasacci. Currently, he has two arrangements under his belt, titled Variations on a Theme of Hudson and La Fleur.

It’s fun to be able to look at something that you’ve created, and then be able to play that composition yourself,” Seerden says. “Knowing, ‘I created this.’ Like, I’m not finding the works of some dead person and then playing it. I created this, and now I’m playing it, which is just super, super amazing.”

Of course, amid a flurry of blue ribbons and gold trophies, Seerden is still a young student who plays outside, reads books, begs his mom for a pet dog and eats sweets.

“I just like to eat,” Seerden says. “I love trying out new food places. I love going to five-star restaurants. I love going to three-star restaurants, seeing if they have good food. I love going to pastry places, eating apple pie. My dad’s apple pie is the bomb.”

Still, Seerden’s musical goals are never truly out of sight. Every time he watches his idols on YouTube or catches live performances in Columbus, he dreams of what his future might look like: winning the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, performing on the Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall and always proving himself against the best of the best.

“That inspires me to excel inside of my piano studies and get better, because it inspires me to be as good as them,” Seerden says. “I feel like it would be really fun and cool to be able to play the piano on these big stages.”