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Sage Hill Violinists Play Carnegie Hall with Youth Ensembles
Sophie Qiu ’24 and Trinity Chen ‘26 joined the country’s top high school-aged violinists respectively as part of a symphony orchestra and string ensemble that performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in early February.
The Honors Performance Series annually invites young musicians to apply for the opportunity to learn from renowned conductors and ultimately perform at the world-class venue. After two full days of rehearsals in New York City, 250 students performed for concertgoers, educators and family.
“You don’t understand how tall the ceiling is until you’re standing there. It’s also really pretty, obviously,” Sophie said. “One of the most wow moments was for our last piece -- the last note was a gong. It really resonated and it set in that ‘wow, we really did just play at Carnegie Hall.’”
The Sage Hill junior felt particularly honored to learn from Charles Peltz, music director of the Glens Falls Symphony, who conducted the 2023 High School Honors Symphony Orchestra.
“I don’t think I’ve worked under someone like that. He’s just really amazing. He imparted life lessons with his rehearsals, which is fun,” Sophie said.
As someone who has played violin since she was seven years old, Trinity also enjoyed performing with her talented peers in string ensemble.
“I’ve never played on a really big stage like that where the sounds are completely different from where I’ve played before,” she said.
Besides her string ensemble class with instrumental music teacher Dr. Brent Dodson, Trinity rehearses with her violin instructor and out-of-school orchestra.
“I always get excited whenever students pursue their music outside of school and bring it to another community whether it’s locally or in this case to the East Coast,” Dodson said. “I’m proud of them for wanting to do that and hopeful they can bring that experience back and share with us musically here.”
Before auditioning for the Honors Performance Series last July, Sophie had played the violin for six years and practiced daily for at least one hour. She credits her parents and violin instructor for encouraging her to keep going.
“I feel like there were periods of time in middle school where I didn’t want to play but they told me this is something you’re going to want in the future and I’m glad they did,” Sophie said.
Sage Hill School
Sage Hill School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and athletic and other School administered programs.