To The Presser Foundation:
I am honored to be recognized as a recipient of the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, and I am truly grateful for your generous support of my continuing education and artistic development.
I am currently pursuing my Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and minor in Linguistics. Following my graduation from Northwestern, I plan to continue studying Violin Performance in a Master’s program. I aspire to perform as a professional orchestra member and teach young violinists.
As a child, my parents often took me to see the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra play in the beautiful Powell Hall. Their sound dazzled me, and before I was even ten years old, my greatest dream as a musician was to one day perform on that stage as a member of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. (At the age of six, I drew a picture of myself playing the violin at Powell Hall.) As an eighth grader, in the weeks leading up to my audition for the youth orchestra, I worked harder than I ever had before, practicing for five hours every day in hopes of winning a seat. I was as proud as I had ever been before when I found out I would have the privilege of playing in the very last seat of the second violin section.
At the time, performing with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra in Powell Hall was the greatest musical experience I could imagine, but it was only the beginning. In the years following that first audition, I went on to earn the position of Concertmaster and serve as one of the first mentors in the St. Louis Symphony’s Mentoring the Music: Peer to Peer, an inner-city mentorship program. Playing with the youth orchestra and serving as a mentor opened my eyes to much bigger dreams: making music at the highest levels, being able to give others what had been given to me as a child, participating in something bigger, older, and greater than any one of us.
My dream of playing with a professional orchestra inspired the years of hard work that led me to the Bienen School of Music, where my goals for the future have greatly expanded. In my final year of undergraduate study, I no longer see orchestral performance as my sole professional pursuit. I now look forward to not only performing the canonical orchestral works from years past, but also bringing to light the underappreciated works of today’s composers and those overlooked throughout history.
More than ever, I look forward to passing on the wisdom and expertise I have been fortunate enough to receive from my teachers, including Professor Gerardo Ribeiro at the Bienen School of Music. This summer, I worked as both a counselor and a student at the Meadowmount School of Music, and I look forward to serving as a leader in the community and a mentor to the younger students under my responsibility.
The generous gift from The Presser Foundation validates the work I have put in thus far, and inspires me to keep going, to keep dreaming, and to keep believing in myself. Being named a Presser Scholar is an honor which I am thrilled to share with my family, who have been by my side through every step of this journey and have supported me in every possible way.
I sincerely thank you for this award, and I am honored to put it towards my final year of undergraduate study at Northwestern University. Your contribution to the education of blossoming young artists is truly inspiring, and I thank you again for bestowing me with this award.
