Thursday, March 3, 2011

A Nod to Audrey Chen

It's that time of year again; Time to announce the 2011 Concerto Competition Contest Winner!

The Concerto Competition is an annual contest the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra (BYSO) hosts. Each year a young performer is selected to perform a solo piece with the Youth Symphony at the Masterworks Concert II. This year Audrey Chen, a freshman at Interlake High School, won the honor to perform her solo at this concert on Sunday, March 20th, 2011, at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue.

Four years ago Audrey began playing with BYSO in Sinfonia and within a year moved to the Youth Symphony. This year Audrey chose to play a piece that was not only close to her heart but popular amongst chamber music fans. The first movement of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B-Minor and Audrey's years of practice won the hearts of the judges and lead her to this victory.

Audrey began playing piano at six and took up cello in the fourth grade with Mr. Kai Chen. Over the years Audrey has been a part of many orchestras and ensembles. Joseph Kempisty and Dr. Teresa Metzger Howe (the conductors of Sinfonia and the Youth Orchestra) have been huge inspirations. Through their guidance and her own discovery she has found that while practice makes perfect, "efficiency is better than quantity." She rehearses with BYSO every Monday evening for two hours and practices a maximum of two hours every other day. She uses a systematic method to practice, starting with scales to warm up and then tackling each piece section by section. If there is something she believes needs extra attention, she will practice that part again and again-even after she has perfected it, just to be safe.

Not only has Audrey shone in BYSO, but she also sits first chair in the Interlake Freshmen Orchestra. While it does increase her workload, she enjoys all of the opportunities that have opened up to her because of it. On top of winning the 2011 Concerto Competition her Chamber Group at Interlake (comprised of 4 BYSO string players and one pianist) was one of the top ten finalists for the KING FM Ten Grands Competition-the grand prize for which is performing at Beneroya Hall on April 1st, 2011. She also a participant of the All-Northwest Orchestra, a large group of dedicated and talented high-school musicians from the Pacific Northwest that performed last February.

Audrey acknowledges that her parents have been huge supporters of her musical career and are in agreement for her to continue in future years. As with many passions, she hopes to make it her life by majoring in music when she moves along to college. She has even considered a double major to allow her to continue to play. She plays, she listens, and she performs, and gives us all a taste of something lovely. Join us on March 20th to witness Audrey's talents on her new French Buthod cello loaned by the Carlsen Cello Foundation.

The Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit organization established to provide a positive and stimulating musical environment for students. BYSO uniquely complements and builds upon both school music programs and private instruction. BYSO encourages the development of musical skills and self-confidence, as participants in all ensembles rehearse orchestral literature which appropriately challenges their skills. For over 45 years our program has provided instrumental music experience to match the ability levels of talented youth from early elementary grades through their college years.

To purchase tickets to the March 20th Concert, please follow this link.

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