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WSO Young Soloist Competition
And the Winners Are……
This year the
judges selected both first- and second-place winners of the
Wellesley Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition. We are
especially delighted that each young woman is from Wellesley; the
first-place winner is violinist Chelsea Kim, a ninth-grader at
Wellesley High School, and the second-place winner is bassoonist
Cecile Zhu, a senior at Wellesley High School. Come to the March
14, 2010, WSO Family Concert to hear Chelsea play; watch the WSO
website for Cecile’s program date.
(NOTE:
Applications for
the 2010/2011 WSO Young Soloist Competition will be posted here
shortly after Labor Day. If you have any questions about the
competition at any time, please contact Dianne Mahany by email at
d.mahany@verizon.net or by telephone at 978-443-5212.)
Chelsea
H.J. Kim,
14, began studying violin at the age of 4. After moving from
Seoul, Korea, to Vancouver, British Columbia, she won the Provincial
Performance Festival, representing her province at the age of 10,
and also won numerous scholarships and first prizes at the Kiwanis
Music Festivals. She continued her violin education after coming to
the United States in 2005, and since then has won the Mississippi
Chapter of the American String Teachers Association competition (ASTA);
attended the Stradivarius International Violin Competition in Salt
Lake City; won first place in the Tuscaloosa String Quartet Society
Scholarship Competition; won second place in the Lois Pickard
Scholarship National Competition; and received honorable mention at
the Alexander and Buono International Competition in New York.
Chelsea has played in master classes given by Joshua Bell, Stefan
Milenkovich, and Philip Setzer.
As an orchestral
musician, Chelsea has been concertmistress of the Mississippi Youth
Symphony Orchestra and played a joint concert with the Mississippi
Symphony. She was a member of the first violin section of the
Belhaven College Orchestra, and, in 2008, the youngest violinist in
the Vancouver Academy Senior Orchestra. Since last year, Chelsea
has been active in the NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Benjamin Zander.
An all-A
student, Chelsea is also a dedicated soccer player and active
community volunteer. As sixth-grade president of Beta Club and a
member of National Junior Honor Society, she was invited to the
People to People International Leadership Program. She plays her
violin at retirement centers and churches, and is active in Special
Olympics and other sports programs for disabled children.
Selected as
runner-up in the competition, 17-year-old bassoonist
Cecile Zhu was born in Kyoto, Japan,
and has been living in the United States for 10 years. She began
playing the piano at the age of 3, and at 11 began her study of
bassoon performance with Janet Underhill. She currently studies with
Richard Ranti, associate principal bassoonist of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra. Cecile has been a member of the Boston Youth Symphony
Orchestra, directed by Federico Cortese, since 2004, and has
traveled with them on international tours. She has performed in
venues such as the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and Smetana Hall in Prague.
She has also participated in summer programs at Le Domaine Forget
and the Banff Centre. Cecile is applying to conservatories and music
schools and intends to major in bassoon performance.
In addition to
music, Cecile enjoys photography and literature. She is particularly
interested in the works of photographer Diane Arbus and writer Kurt
Vonnegut.
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