Denis Gralike, a senior at Affton High School, was recently awarded third place at the Flute Society of St. Louis’ Young Artist Competition. The competition took place on March 28, which was Flute Day.

Gralike originally played the clarinet, but during his sophomore year, he decided to expand his horizons. He asked his mom for a flute for Christmas — “as a joke” — but when she gave him the gift, he decided to take it seriously.

“I started learning it, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I really love doing this,’” Gralike said. “It exploded from there — all these opportunities. It fell into something I love.”

Gralike’s flute teacher recommended that he pursue the Young Artist Competition from the Flute Society. He submitted two video auditions, making it through a preliminary and final round. Gralike says he spent a lot of time outside of school getting comfortable with his piece and his ability to play it. Then he was on to the last round, which was in-person.

“It was really nerve-wracking,” Gralike said. “It was my first competition performance, so it was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is actually happening.’”

At the end of the competition, it was announced that he’d scored third place. His winning performance was to Charles-Marie Widor’s “Suite for Flute and Piano, Op. 34.”

“After my performance, I didn’t know how well I did. I didn’t feel like I did too well,” Gralike said. “But after the results came out, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m actually proud of this.’”