WFMT Introductions!

This Saturday, I am going to play on WFMT Introductions on the radio station 98.7 with my trio, the Triumvirate.  WFMT Introductions is a program that has a different youth chamber group or soloist come and play in the WFMT studio once a week.  A few weeks ago, the concert master of Midwest Young Artists, Jorie Butler-Geyer, played on this show.

The Triumvirate is a Piano-Viola-Clarinet trio consisting of myself, my brother Ari on viola, and Kevin Xu, a junior at Stephenson high school (My brothers high school), on piano.  My brother and I found Kevin through Midwest Young Artist's (MYA) chamber program.

We are playing the Kegelstatt trio by Mozart and Fairy Tales by Schumann.  The Kegelstatt trio is a piece I love and have been playing for a while.  It is the first piece written for this combination of instruments and has inspired many other composers to write for a Piano-Viola-Clarinet trio.  One of those composers was Schumann.  When Schumann heard the Kegelstatt being performed he was inspired to write for the combination.  Even though Fairy Tales was only written two years before Schumann's attempted suicide it is still very light in most places but, there are signs of agitation in some parts, especially in the second movement.

 I have never played on the radio and I am nervous but, I am also very excited to have this great opportunity.

It's Been Too Long Since My Last Blog Post

December was a really busy month!  I went with my teacher to New York to have a lesson with Anthony McGill again.  My youth orchestra (Midwest Young Artists) played several Christmas concerts in area malls, and I was busy preparing for the Walgreens Concerto Competition and the DePaul Concerto Festival.  Plus I performed a family concert with my great aunt Corean who is a concert pianist.

I won the wind category of the junior MYA division of the Walgreens playing the Rossini Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet, and I won the clarinet category at the DePaul Concerto Festival, playing the Weber Concertino.  I think this means I will get to play the Weber Concertino with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra later this month.

Also, my chamber trio auditioned for WFMT Introductions, and we were selected to play on January 28.  We will be playing the Mozart Kegelstatt Trio (k. 498) and the Schumann Marchenerzahlungen for viola, clarinet and piano.  I'm really excited about playing, but I'm kind of scared of the interview part.