Young Musicians take to Brucker Hall stage

Violinist Kenneth Naito of Elkridge, Md., was named the winner of the 11th annual The United States Army Band's Young Artist competition held March 14 at Brucker Hall on the Fort Myer portion of the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.

So dedicated is Naito to his music that he left the competition immediately after his performance in order to travel to Columbia, Md., where he was due for a rehearsal at 9:30 p.m. He was not present to accept his award, but will perform as a soloist with the band on May 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Naito performed a rendition of "Allegro guerriero" to take first place.

Julia Angelov, 14, a student at National Cathedral School, was the competition's second place winner. She performed the third movement of St. Saens violin concerto #3. Angelov began playing the violin when she was 4 years old and hopes to make a career out of music.

"I would love to keep playing," she said. "It's very difficult, but I think it's a beautiful [career] path," Angelov said she was very happy with her second place finish.

"Everyone was amazing," she said. "I wasn't expecting this at all. It's such an honor."

In addition to Naito and Angelov, other performers included Helen Zhao (flute); Gabrielle Li (cello); Yukio Takehara (violin); Olivia Johann (oboe); Eric Constantino (viola) and Yeama Ho (flute).

Judges included The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" Leader and Commander Col. Timothy Holtan; Deputy Commander Maj. Trent Ancelet; Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Smith; Master Sgt. Tom Fowler, non-commissioned officer in charge of the U.S. Army Orchestra; Staff Sgt. Rob Martin, concert master of The U.S. Army Orchestra; and Sgt. 1st Class Amanda Jury, principal oboist of The U.S. Army Concert Band.

"We take great pleasure in this process, from advertising and soliciting recordings to choosing honorable mentions and finalists to come and play for us this evening," Holtan said.

He complimented all the finalists on the quality of their performances.

"The preparation that you must have gone through to get to this point is very, very evident," Holtan said.

Holtan then led the audience in a round of applause in appreciation for those who accompanied the performers and for the performers' parents.

"We all know that there's no way we could do what we do when we were young, formative musicians without our parents," he said. "Taking us to and from lessons, encouraging us to practice, paying for those lessons, going back and forth to rehearsals. It's quite a labor of love."

Pentagram Staff Writer Julia LeDoux can be reached at jledoux@dcmilitary.com.