Semiahmoo Strings co-concertmaster Lucy Wang continues to win attention – and awards – for her skills as a violin soloist.
Wang, 16, came away from the prestigious Shean Strings Competition in Edmonton last weekend with $5,000 in prizes and the opportunity to play with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at a future date.
The awards represent $4,000 for placing third out of six finalists chosen from a field of 21 entries – plus an even bigger feather in her cap; winning the $1,000 Paul J. Bourret Prize for the best performance of the selected test piece, the challenging Caprice, Op. 1, No. 5 by Niccolo Paganini.
In an email to Wang’s Semiahmoo Strings colleagues immediately following the result, a jubilant Carla Birston (Wang’s teacher and co-founder of the Semiahmoo Strings) wrote: “The adjudicators looked at each other, shook their heads and said ‘what did we just hear? How did she do that?’”
Last year, Wang – well-known to local audiences of Semiahmoo Strings’ concerts for her technical prowess, tonal mastery and stage presence – was one of six winners of the Seattle Young Artists Competition, which provided her an opportunity to perform a movement of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major with the Philarmonia Northwest, directed by Seattle Symphony assistant conductor Eric Garcia.
Her next local performance will be in the Strings’ Players’ Choice concert, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Wheelhouse Theatre at Earl Marriott Secondary (15751 16 Ave.).
She will play Rimsky-Korsakov’s celebrated Flight of the Bumble Bee in the performance, which will also showcase violin soloists Joseph Liang and Jannie Chien.
To reserve tickets, call 604-538-1460.