Cloverdale student Da-Wei Chan is warming up for his debut as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra later this month.
The 11-year-old, who is a student at Cloverdale鈥檚 Diamond Elementary School, as part of the orchestra鈥檚 100th anniversary season.
Over the holiday break, however, he was asked to perform as a soloist with the orchestra at the , a benefit event for the VSO and the VSO School of Music, which will take place Jan. 31.
The talented young musician won the VSO School of Music鈥檚 Future of Excellence concerto competition last year, earning the honour of playing with the VSO as a soloist during their 100th season.
Ever since he found out he would performing the same piece he won the concerto competition with 鈥� Max Bruch鈥檚 Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor 鈥� he has been hard at work practicing.
According to Da-Wei鈥檚 dad, Siong, one of the things Da-Wei has been working on since the is 鈥渟lowing down鈥� the complex and technically challenging piece, and expressing emotion through his sound.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just a bunch of notes,鈥� explained Siong. 鈥淵ou really have to emote it, play emotionally, musically. Give a performance that鈥檚 mournful, soulful, romantic.鈥�
So how do you teach an 11-year-old to play soulful, romantic music?
YouTube.
As Da-Wei鈥檚 mother, Wendy Chan, explained, they watched a lot of YouTube recordings of the concerto to get ideas. 鈥淓verybody does it differently,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou kind of get an idea of what speaks to you, and you make it your own.鈥�
The performance that speaks to Da-Wei the most is by Hilary Hahn because of her 鈥渃risp鈥� performance. Every note, he said, was 鈥渃lear and energetic.鈥�
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When asked if he鈥檚 nervous for the upcoming debut, Da-Wei said he doesn鈥檛 think about it a lot.
The largest audience he has performed as a soloist for was a size of about 100 people. But, as part of an orchestra, the largest venue he has played is Sunset Beach, which usually pulls a crowd of around 7,000 people.
For more information on the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Da-Wei鈥檚 upcoming performance, visit .
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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