A local pianist prodigy proved again he is one of best at his craft — this time at a national level.

Nathan Lee, a fifth-grade student from Sammamish, won first prize in the Music Teachers National Association Junior Piano competition March 9 in Anaheim, Calif.

Lee received a cash prize of $1,000 and performed in a Winners Concert during the 2013 MTNA National Conference.

“The MTNA National Competition was an amazing experience for me,” Nathan said. “My piano teacher, Dr. Sasha Starcevich, my mom, and I worked really hard, so I was delighted when I made it to the National finals and even more so when I won the competition at the National level.  I tried to think of the finals not as a competition but as my recital and tried to play as much beautiful music as I could, and I think that helped a lot.”

Lee, the son of Jee-Young and Han Lee, attends Samantha Smith Elementary and has studied piano for five years.

In addition to winning MTNA National Junior Piano Competition, Lee has performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at Benaroya Hall in 2012 as the winner of Seattle Symphony Young Artists Auditions, and with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony as a prize winner of the National Young Artists Competition.

He has also performed as a featured artist on KING FM 98.1’s NW Focus Live program; as a special guest in Bainbridge Performing Arts’ concert and Russian Chamber Music Foundation of Seattle’s concert in 2011; and as a recitalist and soloist at Music Fest Perugia in Italy during the summers of 2011 and 2012.