EMMA STEELE.
Courtesy photo

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Vallejo Symphony Orchestra’s 2013-14 season opens this Saturday with “Young Giants,” featuring the music of Mozart and Beethoven in their prime.

But the title might just as well refer to guest violinist Emma Steele.

Steele, 23, is the 2010 winner of the Young Talent Prize at the Sibelius International Violin Competition who placed second in the 2012 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. Currently she is concertmaster for the Royal Opera Orchestra in Denmark.

Interviewed by email in Copenhagen, Steele said her hugely impressive career was anything but assured when, at age 3, she was given a violin for her birthday — but didn’t like the lessons.

By 4, thanks to the Suzuki Method of teaching — which focuses on immersion in the musical community, a supportive group environment in classes and parental coaching as part of its core — “I was hooked,” Steele said. “It was being around all the other kids and playing music with them that got me to enjoy it and want to continue.”

Being born into a musical family was key. Both her parents played piano, though not professionally. “My father especially always had a great love for classical music and so he introduced it to the rest of us,” she said.

Steele became concertmaster for the Youth Symphony Orchestra in her home town of Chicago, then went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., and while there served as concertmaster for the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic. Just this year she achieved the position in Denmark, at the world’s oldest orchestra, which dates to 1448.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play in a professional opera orchestra,” she said. “I love all the music and being part of the big productions. And luckily with this job, there is enough free time to still be able to pursue my solo career and do concerts such as these.”

In Vallejo, Steele will be soloist for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major — a piece she has performed before, though never with the VSO.

“I am looking forward to it very much. The whole program seems very well put together and I think we can work together and create some great music,” she said.

“It can be tricky to put together a piece with limited rehearsal time, but as long as the orchestra and myself both prepare our own parts very well ahead of time, it usually comes together pretty easily.

“But being a musician is about flexibility, and if something happens while we are playing, we instantly adjust and try to have the best chamber music possible between us.”

If You Go
Vallejo Symphony Orchestra’s “Young Giants” will take place at the Empress Theatre, 330 Virginia St., Vallejo, Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at vallejosymphony.org.

Sharing is caring!