With her swishy ponytail and slender arms, Lin Tokura, age 13, looks like the young teen she is, but she plays the violin like an angel. She will perform the lyrical Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra next Sunday, March 16. Also on the program is Ava Pakiam, age 15, another rising star, who will play the romantic Brahms Violin Concerto. These two will perform together on Steve Reich’s Duet for Two Solo Violins and String Orchestra, and rounding out the concert is “Open Doors” by Molly Turner.
Nurturing and honoring young talent is one of the passions of Olympia Symphony Conductor and Music Director Alexandra Arrieche, who’s thrilled with this opportunity. While the original intent was that the young violinists would play only a single movement on Sunday, they each opted to perform the entire concerto.
“These are two young fearless women, taking on these challenging pieces,” Arrieche said recently. “This is the type of concert where you see young people embracing and pouring their hearts into music, and it reminds us of why we do what we do.”
The young violinists, both winners of the OSO’s Young Artist competition, are making names for themselves throughout the world. Tokura of Seattle, who began playing violin at age 3, won the Young Talents Gold Prize at the Paris International Music Competition in 2019 and was a top winner at the Crescendo International Music Competition, the London Festival Competition and the New York Concert Festival International Competition. Pakiam, who since 7 has been a student at the Pre-College of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, made her solo debut with the Fremont Symphony at age 8, and her Carnegie Hall debut the same year. She’s been featured soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the New York Sinfonia, the Stockton Symphony and the Olympia Symphony, among others.
As she was growing up in Brazil, Conductor Arrieche felt little support as a young pianist. When she came to the Olympia Symphony two years ago as its new conductor, she wanted things to be different here.
“This is close to my heart,” she said. “This has become what I advocate for.”
Arrieche, Tokura and Pakiam will engage with the audience in a question/answer session following the concert.
The symphony will also perform “Open Doors” by Molly Turner, which focuses on “the spirit of discovery” in a “celebration of the many possibilities of life open to all of us.” Turner, originally from Seattle, is also a rising talent who’s gaining national recognition. Currently Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony and Dudamel Fellow in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, she completed a Masters in Orchestral Conducting at the Juilliard School. Her work has been heard at Benaroya Hall, Miami Light Project and Moody Center for the Arts, among other venues.
Arrieche, a mentor in the renowned conductor Marin Alsop’s program for rising female conductors, was looking for another piece for the March 16 concert when she met Turner, a mentee in Alsop’s program. That meeting answered the question of what else to showcase on March 16.
“The piece is about new beginnings,” Arrieche said. “It’s a perfect pairing, to have this piece by someone who’s an incredible local talent and who’s also gone out into the world.”
As well as bringing to Olympia a passion for nurturing young talent, Arrieche also brings an interest in collaboration.
“I don’t see boundaries between music genres,” she said. “Music is the universal language. It’s what connects us without having to say anything, without words.”
That focus on collaboration was highlighted earlier this year, when the Olympia Symphony, the Masterworks Choral Ensemble and the Harlequin Theater performed Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” The production proved a success, and Arrieche was delighted to see the three groups share a stage.
“You see people working together, it’s inspiring,” she said.
Part of the Olympia Symphony’s Signature Series, the March 16 concert is sponsored by the RL Ray Violin Shop. The Olympia Symphony’s next concert, “New Frontiers,” will feature world renown guitarist Petrit Ceku on April 19.
WHAT:
“Open Doors,” a concert by the Olympia Symphony Orchestra
WHEN:
3 p.m. Sunday, March 16
WHERE:
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington Street SE, Olympia
COST:
$17.50 to $91
FOR TICKETS:
https://www.olympiasymphony.org/opendoors