“When I stepped out from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, all I could think was “Wow, what a concert!” There were about 160 musicians that night this spring, half of them from a high school Honor Orchestra. The teen musicians from different high schools in Los Angeles were selected by the conductors, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Grant Gerson.
They only had five rehearsals before they were on the stage, but the young musicians led the entire orchestra through two of the four pieces.
The whole focus was on the pianist, Andrew von Oyene, 17, who began studying piano at age five. Andrew had won First Prize in the Bronislaw Kaper Piano Competition, which is held every two years and is sponsored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Andrew got many scholarships and was the youngest scholarship recipient at the Strawberry Creek Music Festival. He also enjoyed arranging and composing music and had his compositions performed in concert at Crossroads High School.
This concert was very successful, the seats were almost full and the audiences gave their biggest applause to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
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