Category: violin performance

22 LHS Students Win 27 Grade 1 Awards at Solo & Ensemble

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The final award count for Solo & Ensemble is in and it’s wonderful to announce that 22 LHS students won Grade 1 marks, with 5 students competing in both the Solo and  Ensemble categories and securing Grade 1 in both competitions. Every Solo & Ensemble contestant who performed in the 2016 LHS Student Showcase Recital on February 13th received a 1 for their solo grade. Well done, kids!

We’re super excited for Amanda, Ananya, Chris, Deepa, Nikita, Paige, Sharon, and Sophie, all of whom received Grade 1 marks on Class 1 (highest HS level) pieces. Sharon and Amanda are still in middle school (7th grade) !

Congratulations to Danae, Deepa, Sophie, Kayle, and Isaac for auditioning for both solo and ensemble competitions and securing Grade 1 marks in both categories!

Well done to Sneha for earning the current concertmaster spot of the Bowie Symphony, to William for maintaining the concertmaster spot in his orchestra at Elkins, to Amanda for maintaining her principal viola spot at Baines, and to Jacob for maintaining his principal viola chair at Quail Valley. We’re all so excited for Deepa, who will play first desk viola for Travis HS’s upcoming performance in Carnegie Hall over spring break!

MS and HS performers are graded on a scale from 1 (best) to 5, so without further ado, here’s the complete list of the LHS students who were awarded Grade 1:

Amanda

Ananya

Anisha

Ayushi

Chris

Danae

Deepa

Enara

Esosa

Isaac

Kayle

Maggie

Megan

Neha

Nikita

Paige

Sarah

Seline

Sharon

Sneha

Sophie

Taruni

Congratulations to everyone on your wonderful progress!

Starling-Delay Symposium on Violin Studies, part 1

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Hello, all!

I’m so happy to be back in town after an absolutely brilliant week at Juilliard’s Starling-Delay Symposium on Violin Studies. It’ll certainly take more than one post to pass along the wisdom shared by so many great violinists and colleagues, so let’s start off with one of my favorite events — Sarah Chang’s master class.

To begin the week, world-renowned soloist Sarah Chang offered not just her expert violinistic advice on major repertoire, but a prime example of positive teaching at the highest possible level. She frequently used questions to help students identify their individual musical intentions for each phrase, thereby giving students the confidence to present their own artistic interpretations with conviction. Meanwhile, her upbeat encouragement, quick humor, intelligent teaching process, and warm smile made her master class both a tutorial on technique and musicality as well as one on how to inspire your audience!

In talking about her own legendary teacher, the incomparable Dorothy Delay, Sarah Chang mentioned the importance of making disciplined learning fun. As one of the most skilled child prodigies in musical history, Sarah Chang still confessed to having watched an hour of TV after school every day — “Saved By the Bell!”

Sarah_Chang_Juilliard_Lauren_Haley
With Sarah Chang!