Young musicians to shine in spotlight

AFFICIONADO—Medea Creek eighth-grader Jennifer Liu is one of two local musicians who will perform with the New West Symphony’s Young Artists Concert on Sat., Feb. 25 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Liu began studying violin at 4. The New West Symphony’s upcoming Young Artists Concert will include two local youth, eighth-grader Jennifer Liu of Medea Creek Middle School in Oak Park and Tiffany Chen, a senior at Moorpark High School.

The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 25 at the Countrywide Performing Arts Center at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, and will be repeated at 3 p.m. Sun., Feb. 26 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center.

During the concert, Liu will perform movements from Mendels-sohn’s “Violin Concerto” and Chen will play Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on piano. The 2006 Ventura County Honor Band, conducted by Lawrence Stoffel, will also perform.

Saturday’s concert will also include music from the Moorpark High School Jazz Band A, directed by Bob Hackett, beginning at 6:45 p.m. in the plaza lobby.

Jennifer Liu began studying violin at age 4 with her mother, after her parents noticed her mimicking the violin and bow with chopsticks while watching her mother teach other violin students. She first performed as a soloist at age 6.

When Liu was 8 years old, she studied with Russian violinist Gayaneh Kumar and Russian piano pedagogue Vera Aleksardrovich.

Liu played with the New West Symphony in its Symphonic Adventures program in 2003. In 2005, through the support of the Young Musicians Foundation, Liu was named a Distinguished Young Artist and played in Disney Hall for a special music event that was televised live locally.

Liu has worked with renowned artists Ruggiero Ricci, Cho-Liang Lin, Ivry Gitlis, Abram Shtern, Sherry Kloss and Wei Xue. She’s received numerous awards, including the 2005 Bronislaw Kaper Award, the Most Promising Young Musician Scholarship by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Young Musician’s Foundation Scholarship.

She won first place in the young violinist category at the 29th International Young Artists Peninsula Competition, first place in the young violinist category at the 2004 Southwestern Youth Music Festival, and was granted a Leni Fe Bland Scholarship and the Southeast Symphony Scholarship. Liu plays in the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra and the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra. Liu has been a guest soloist for many community events.

Tiffany Chen began playing piano at age 6 and has performed with the New West Symphony in its 2001 Discovery Artists Concerts and the 2002 Symphonic Adventures Program.

In 2000 Chen placed second in the Friends of Long Valley Classical Music Scholarship for Young Musicians Competition, and was invited to perform at the Simi Cultural Arts Center’s fifth anniversary concert. She also performed as a special guest organist for “Pipes Spectacular!” at the invitation of the American Guild of Organists.

In 2001 Chen won first place in her division for the Cypress College Piano Competition.

Chen was chosen as one of the Bramhall Young Artists, performing with the Torrance Symphony in 2002, and also won first place at the Music Teacher Association of California’s Southern California Concerto Competition, later placing second at the state level.

The same year, Chen won the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra’s Young Pianist Award Competition, and performed with that orchestra in June. Chen has competed several times at the annual Southwestern Youth Musical Festival, earning first place in 2002 for the concerto and duo categories, second place in 2003 for American music, and third place in 2004 in concerto II.

She’s also a violinist, playing first violin in the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra from 1998 to 2003, and performing with the Moorpark Symphony Orchestra in 2005. Chen has also taught violin for the Moorpark Boys & Girls Club string program.

Chen’s talents in music composition were recognized by the California PTA with its California State Award of Merit in the 1999 Reflections Contest for the Arts. Chen has been a member of the Moorpark High School academic decathlon team since 11th grade and plans to attend Harvard University this fall.

The Young Artists Concert is sponsored by Westlake Villagebased Guitar Center. Tickets range from $12 to $30 and are available through (800) NEW-WEST, in person at the New West Symphony and Civic Arts Plaza box offices, or online at www. newwestsymphony.org.