Orchestra returns with four outstanding young musicians

After a long absence due to the pandemic, the Pacifica Chamber Orchestra returns Dec. 5 for a winter concert that will spotlight four of the area’s finest young musicians.

The students were winners of the 2020 Snohomish County Music Teachers Association Competition. Traditionally, the winners perform with area orchestras, but that didn’t happen last year because of COVID-19.

“Suddenly, the music stops,” said Fred Chu, Pacifica’s artistic director. “They are so eager to get back to live music.”

Providing a platform for students to perform and grow as musicians is a natural for Pacific, since outreach to schools is a big part of its program, Chu said.

“The reason I focus on education is that when I was a teenager I didn’t have an opportunity to get an education in music, particularly Western music,” said Chu, who grew up in China.

“It was the Cultural Revolution in China,” he said. “Western music was banned.”

The concert is set for 3 p.m. Dec. 5 at Archbishop Murphy High School, St. Thomas Chapel, 12911 39th Ave. SE, Everett. Tickets are $15-$20. More at www.pacificachamberorchestra.org.

The program will include Peter Hope’s “Momentum Suite for String Orchestra,” and the four students performing works by Ludwig van Beethoven, John Rutter and Robert Schumann.

Here are the four students who will perform:

Carson Chadd is a freshman at the University of Washington, majoring in orchestral instrument performance with a focus in the flute. He has played the flute for seven years, and currently he is in the UW wind ensemble, and studies with professor Donna Shin. In 2019 he was one of the Snohomish County Music Teachers Association Concerto Competition winners, and performed with the Mukilteo Community Orchestra.

Seoyoung “Trinity” Yun is an eighth grader at Tyee Middle School in Bellevue who had studied piano with Allan Park since she moved to Washington in 2019. Before her family moved to Washington, she won first prize in the Texas State Young Artists Piano Competition and honorable mention in the Tenth International Chopin Youth Competition in 2018. In 2019, she won the music teachers’ Concerto Competition and played with Mukilteo Orchestra. Trinity wants to study brain science and music so that she can communicate with people through piano, emotionally and intellectually.

Ryan Chung is a sophomore at Kamiak High School. Starting in his second grade, Ryan has been playing the piano for eight years, and also studied with Allan Park. He won a gold medal at the Pacific Northwest Piano Competition in 2020 and numerous silver medals in competitions such as the Russian Chamber Music Foundation, Northwest Chopin Festival and the Performing Arts Festival of Eastside Piano Competition. He also has played violin for six years. Ryan is a member of Kamiak’s chamber group, The Über Kammerstreich. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys playing soccer and tennis.

John Meneses is a senior at Glacier Peak High School. He has been playing piano since he was 6, and trombone since he was 12. He studies piano with Allan Park, and trombone with Randall Ruback. John has won gold medals in the Seattle Virtuoso Artists Festival, Time Era Festival, Russian Chamber Music Competition and Snohomish County Music Teachers Association Sonatina/Sonata Festival. He was a top-prize winner of the 2019 SCMTA Concerto Competition, and performed the 1st Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with the Mukilteo Community Orchestra. He plans on majoring in civil engineering and minoring in music.

On Feb. 19, John lost his father to an aortic dissection. His father was always there to support him in his activities, especially when it came to music. One of John’s last memories of his father was when he had to record a Chopin piece for a competition while his father handled the camera and supported him. Because of the impact his father made on his life, John dedicates his performance of the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor on Dec. 5 to him.