Senior Karynna Asao and sixth grader Stephanie Lum performed brilliantly Saturday evening, March 25, with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. They were part of a concert featuring the eight student winners of the Symphony's annual concerto competition.
Karynna opened the program with the first movement of the Schumann Piano Concerto. Playing with great expression, she set the mood for the concert with her interpretation of this piece. This familiar concerto was given an excellent reading by the orchestra as well as the soloist. Conductor Joan Landry achieved a nicely balanced performance and Karynna demonstrated a very good understanding of the concerto. She is a student of Dr. Thomas Yee.
Opening the second half of the program was a performance of the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos. This rather modern sounding, playful piece gave pianists Stephanie Lum and Elvina Zhang, a 5th grader at Maryknoll School, a chance to display their phenomenal technique. We also got to hear many unusual orchestral percussion sounds rather than the traditional accompaniments of the rest of the program. The audience reacted very well to this performance and it also added some much needed contrast in styles to the other very romantic pieces on the program. Both Stephanie and Elvina are students of Ernest Chang.
All of the student performers did an exceptional job and all of the parents, teachers and friends in the audience showed their appreciation with thunderous applause.
