Over the years, Moore became more and more involved with music.
“I received many opportunities at my school musically, including musical theater and dance showcases,” he says. “I stayed in art classes, choir and orchestra. I did all this until I refined what it was I wanted to focus on. I now plan to pursue a career in viola performance.”
Moore’s mother, Pamela Bucci, a single mom who works as a respiratory therapist at Allegheny General Hospital, says Moore soared in both music and academics at an early age.
“When he first came home with the violin, we would notice that he could hum any tune, find it on the violin and play it—and play it well,” she says. “We then discovered that he could sing and actually had perfect pitch.”
For his performance as the lead, Jean Valjean, in his school’s production of “Les Misérables,” Moore won a 2016 Gene Kelly Award for “best actor.” He’d go on to travel to New York to compete in the National High School Music Awards, where he was one of three runners-up for the Jimmy Award and received a scholarship for that effort.
Craig Johnson, executive director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, spoke of Moore this way: “I’ve been in this business just about 17 years and I’ve seen many students and many talented ones. Devin is exemplary. His talents are many and he excels in all of them. Additionally, he has outstanding leadership skills and an incredible level of maturity, both of which make him a significant role model. Not every talented student has his leadership skills.”
Moore is an academic standout as well. He has been in the gifted program since he was six years of age, currently is in AP English and math, and is taking two physics classes and calculus at the same time.
While his activities are intense around his music and scholarship, he manages to separate himself and do things not connected to music or school.
“The musical theater folks at school and the youth symphony are like family, and at least three times a month, they devote themselves to activities like bowling, movies and dinners out just for fun,” says his mother. “What I am most proud of Devin for–the main compliment I get about him–is that he is such a humble kid, grounded and kind. His 9-year-old sister, Tatum, looks up to him as she is building her own track record of excellence in dance and scholarship.”
Moore is driven by his clear understanding of his gifts.
“Since God has given me many gifts, I see it as my duty as his child to foster my talents, develop my skills and share my gifts with the world.”
He is in the midst of auditions for three of the top musical schools in the country—Julliard, Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory, with plans to pursue a five-year program combining engineering and music.
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