William Wang, Age 16
USA
Score: 88.16
William Wang is currently a junior at North Allegheny Senior High School in Pittsburgh, PA. He has been playing violin since he was 8 years old, and currently studies with Monique Mead. He has also played the piano in the past.
As a soloist, he has had a few great opportunities to perform with orchestras. In 2015, he performed Sarasate’s duet Navarra with Ms. Monique Mead with the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. In 2016, he performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with both the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra and Pittsburgh Philharmonic Orchestra in three concerts after winning both of their Young Artist Concerto competitions in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In addition, he won 2nd prize in the Duquesne Young Artists National Competition in 2013, and was selected to the final round of the WQED Musical Kids contest, once for violin (2013) and once for piano (2014). In 2017, he also won the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist Competition and received the Benjamin and Anna Perlow Scholarships Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation. He was also awarded 1st place in the Violin Sonata category, The Art of Strings and Best Tchaikovsky Performance category respectively in the International Great Composers Competition Series. In addition, he has a level 10 (out of 10) certification with Honors from ASTA (American String Teachers Association) as of 2016 and in the following year 2017 was selected to perform in a masterclass held at the ASTA National Conference with Professor Grigory Kalinovsky from Indiana University.
William is also part of many musical ensembles. In 2016, his first year with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra (PYSO), he served as the concertmaster. In addition, he was part of the PYSO concert tour of Spain in 2017 summer, where they performed Don Juan and Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony in Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid. He has also participated in the PMEA All-state orchestra, earning 3rd chair in the All-State Orchestra. In 2018, William has joined two chamber music groups, serving as the first violinist of both the Appalachian Trio and Amadeus Quintet; with Amadeus, he received the Montgomery Fellowship Scholarship sponsored by Chamber Music Pittsburgh.
Aside from violin, William enjoys playing chess, is a passionate basketball player, and an avid sports fan.
Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 35, 1st movement by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 17'43"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5h-i67XuaU&index=53&t=0s&list=PLSRH0Hez77kyzEQJpkWzVvUldQTpNYBaF
