5 young musicians win dream opportunity to perform with Boston Pops
BOSTON -- Some talented young musicians in Massachusetts got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform with the Boston Pops Tuesday night.
After competing against dozens of the most accomplished high schoolers in Greater Boston in the Fidelity Investments Young Artists Competition, only five winners were selected to be featured musicians in a performance with the Pops.
Young artists bring diverse backgrounds to Boston Pops
17-year-old Dilzafer Singh of Hopkinton duetted with a Pops' clarinetist while he played the Tabla drums, a North Indian classical instrument.
Together, the duo performed a South Indian raga at the Boston Pops performance.
"We have elements of both the north and the south of India, as well as east and west," Singh said. "It's really a confluence of all of these different cultures."
Finding solace in music
The global scope of the concert continues with Wakefield's 18-year-old Lazar Kaminsky, who plays the cello and is home-schooled. His family has ties to Russia, Ukraine, and Israel.
Despite international conflicts during the past couple of years, Kaminsky says he finds solace in playing music.
"We have people disagreeing about everything now, but I think music is a language where you can't really have an argument," Kaminsky said. "You can only enjoy the music."
Another finalist, 18-year-old Jiyu Oh on the violin, wowed the audience with her impressive virtuoso showpiece of "Waxman: Carmen Fantasie." She attends the Walnut School for the Arts, which is an independent boarding school in Natick.
Boston Arts Academy jazz duo Su Yavuz on piano and Brian Washington on drums were "blown away" when they were selected as finalists.
Even though Washington's parents met while attending Berklee College of Music, he never thought becoming a Boston Pops' finalist would come natural to him.
When the pair was auditioning for the Boston Pops, they initially didn't think their jazz piece would fit in because it would be played by the orchestra.
"When we won, we were so excited," Yavuz said.
"So grateful for this opportunity"
18-year-old Yavuz grew up watching her idols on YouTube performing at Symphony Hall -- but never thought she would be there at her young age performing, too.
"It feels amazing," she said. "I'm so, so grateful for this opportunity."
Conductor Keith Lockhart believes this special night will stick with the young musicians for life.
"No matter what life has in store for them and no matter what direction they go, they're going to be game-changers," he said. "They're going to be important people."
WBZ is proud to be the official media partner for the Fidelity Investments Youth Artists Competition
