February 5, 2019
By Ollie Rourke and Varun Suraj
The three winners of the Lexington High School Concerto Competition are being given the unique opportunity to play as soloists with the Chamber Orchestra, the highest level orchestra at LHS.
The competition was evaluated by three judges: Omar Chen Guey, a violinist in the music group A Far Cry; Yun Lee, a pianist from Winchester Music School); and David Hoose, a conductor and director of orchestra activities at Boston University.
One of the three winners of the competition is senior Alex Tung, who plays the trumpet. Tung chose his own piece for his performance.
“I chose the piece ‘Legend’ by Georges Enesco. It’s not strictly a concerto, but it’s a very technically demanding and beautifully written piece of music for trumpet, which I hoped would show off my technical ability on my instrument,” Tung said.
Tung has been playing the trumpet for nine years, beginning when he was in fourth grade.
“I love making music,” Tung said. “I especially love the reactions and the emotions that I evoke in my audience members.”
Hannah Ryu, also a senior at LHS, was another winner of the competition. She describes this year’s competition as more competitive.
“There was even a preliminary round just this year because there were too many applicants,” Ryu said. “The preliminary round was sending a three minute recording of the piece that each person wants to play for the competition.”
Although Ryu also plays the piano, she entered the competition as a violinist. She had previously won the competition as a freshman.
“I played the first movement of the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No.3 in B minor for the competition. I chose this piece because I like how it is bold, energetic and romantic all at the same time despite being French music, which is usually considered to be delicate. In playing this piece I’ve learned to play aggressive and fast passages with greater sensitivity,” Ryu said.
Ryu began playing the violin when she was four years old, and her passion for music has grown since.
“I believe music is a universal language,” Ryu said. “Through international music tours and performances at various places, including hospitals, I’ve learned that music can really connect and console all people despite their physical, cultural, or financial condition.”
Khoi Le, a sophomore at LHS, plays the piano and also won the concerto competition.
“The piece I performed was the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Concerto... It’s a dark, exhilarating piece that can be interpreted in so many ways. I chose it not only because of its technical difficulty, but because of the number of times it’s been played. I wanted to find something different in it that hadn’t been discovered before and present my new take on it to audiences,” Le said.
Le has been playing piano since he was five years old, but said his true passion was sparked in middle school.
“What keeps me playing is my desire to share classical music with people who don’t know the beauty of classical repertoire, as well as the rush I get when performing, which is unlike [any] other,” Le said.
Ryu will play in April, Tung will play in May and Le will play in October as soloists with the LHS Chamber Orchestra.
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