How Talented Pianist Found His Calling in Temple Terrace

David Meder, 23, was a second-grader at Lewis Elementary School when he found his calling.

He heard a classmate play “Heart and Soul” on a piano and was blown away.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I have to do that,’” he said.

So, the Temple Terrace native started taking piano lessons from Jan Khorsandian, who lived in Riverhills. She taught him piano for 10 years.

“I really liked her,” said Meder, who still keeps in touch with Khorsandian and said she now lives in Thonotosassa. “She was just a really caring kind of lady. She invested a lot in me so I’m really grateful.”

Over the years, Meder honed his skills. He was in the band at King High School under Cheri Sleeper and played at the Sweet Shoppe in the Victorian Village shopping plaza every couple weeks before it closed and became Bangkok Jazz.

He graduated from King in 2008 and went on to graduate from Florida State University this year.

In May, Meder won first place the 2013 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition (formerly the Great American Jazz Competition) and a $3,500 prize.

More than 40 applicants from around the country submitted CDs to be considered, and Meder was one of five finalists selected to compete in a live performance at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville.

“It was a great honor to be named the winner, but I accept the award humbly knowing that it could have gone to any one of the five finalists,” Meder said on his website. “They were all extraordinary in their own right.”

Now, he’s starting a graduate program in music at New York University and he’ll work as an adjunct piano faculty member to NYU undergraduates. He said he hopes to pursue music in New York.

For more information about Meder and to hear his music, visit his website: www.davidmeder.com.