National Chamber Ensemble Announces 2016 Outstanding Young Artist Achievement Award

From the National Chamber Ensemble:

ROSSLYN, VA - Twelve-year-old violinist Brandon Du, of Ellicott City, Maryland, was selected the winner of the National Chamber Ensemble’s (NCE) 2016 Outstanding Young Artist Achievement Award. He receives a $750 scholarship, a trophy, and the opportunity to perform with the Ensemble onDecember 10 during its holiday concert.

Du will be featured in Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs)” and/or Max Bruch’s “Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor.”

Du, the youngest of the six finalists aged 12 to 17, performed “Zigeunerweisen” for judges Kristina Botnari, co-founder and vice president of the Royal Music Society, and Leo Sushansky, founder and artistic director of NCE, during the award finals. A seventh grader at Ellicott Mills Middle School, he has been studying violin since the age of four. Currently, he is the concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra (BSYO), and was the concertmaster of the Concert Orchestra of the BSYO. Du was invited to perform Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole” with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last year during its education concert series.

No stranger to competitions, Du also won the Asian American Music Society String Competition (Junior Division), the Washington Performing Arts Scholarship Award in the 45th Annual Joseph and Goldie Feder Memorial String Competition, and the BSYO Youth Orchestra and Concert Orchestra concerto competitions, and placed second in American Fine Arts Festival’s Romantic Music International Competition this past fall.

When he’s not playing the violin, Du enjoys reading, playing table tennis, and doing math.

NCE’s Happy Holidays! concert on December 10 features soprano Rebecca Littig, who made her European debut at age 24, along with Natasha Dukan (piano), Jorge Orozco (violin), Vasily Popov (cello), Leo Sushansky (violin), and Uri Wassertzug (viola). The evening’s repertoire includes music of Strauss, Mozart, Schumann, Bach, and more, as well as a carols sing-along with the audience.

General admission tickets are $33 for adults and $17 for students, plus applicable service charges. Tickets are available online at www.nationalchamberensemble.org and at the box office one hour prior to the performance. Group discounts for 10 or more are available by calling (703) 685-7590.

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