OIHS Student to Perform at Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House

— from Kristen Wilson —

Paris Wilson, sophomore at Orcas Island High School, has been invited to play violin with the Honors String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in February 2017 and also with the Honors Orchestra at Sydney Opera House in July. Selection for both groups was by audition and open to nominated high school students from around the world.

Paris will join performers from all 50 U.S. states and a number of foreign countries who were chosen to be part of the orchestra, band, strings and choral ensembles. According to Morgan Smith, Program Director, “We processed more than 18,000 nominations this year and have selected nearly 750 of the most talented student performers from around the world.”

Pamela Wright, Director of Strings at Orcas Island Schools, nominated Paris to the program in August. Paris prepared three audition excerpts from Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 4, Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D Major, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 35.

Paris submitted her audition recordings and applications in September and received notice recently of her selection to both groups. The New York and Sydney programs feature different ensembles and repertoires, and selection for one ensemble does not necessarily mean selection for the other. “Your acceptance to this elite group is a direct result of the talent, dedication, and achievements demonstrated in your application,” said the Program Board.

Eight years ago, when Paris was in second grade, she was introduced to the violin at one of Pamela Wright’s week-long summer violin camps. Like many students who take Mrs. Wright’s Beginning Strings class, from that first day when she came home playing “Twinkle,” Paris fell in love with the violin.

Very soon, Paris began private lessons, first with Matthew Olson. Then at age ten she began traveling to Bellingham for lessons with Lisa Humphrey. Paris has enjoyed many summer master classes available to student musicians through the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival. She spent the past summer studying with Martin Friedmann, of Seattle and Orcas Island, and has also had lessons with Will Fedkenheuer of the Miró Quartet. Recently she began studying with Grant Donnellan, Professor of Violin at Western Washington University.

Paris began playing in Pamela Wright’s High School Strings class when she was in 6th grade. She is currently concertmaster of that group. She performs with the trio Almost Classical, a group that creates their own improvisational arrangements of pop songs. She also enjoys studying piano and playing jazz violin with Martin Lund.