Local violinist studies at prestigious summer camp
Harper Shue, a senior at Central Christian High School and a violinist, spent six weeks this summer at the Brevard Music Center to study and perform orchestral music.
For six weeks this past summer, violinist Harper Shue of Kidron was surrounded by trees and music, as the senior at Central Christian was accepted into the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina to study and perform orchestral music.
Situated on a 180-acre campus in Western North Carolina, Brevard Music Center stands as one of this country’s premier summer training programs and festivals. Under the artistic direction of conductor Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops and formerly chief conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in London, over 700 gifted students and participants go to the BMC each summer from all over the world to study with distinguished faculty and renowned guest artists.
To apply at Brevard, Shue had to record a video audition where she played two contrasting pieces.
“I had never heard of Brevard until my teacher Lara Dudack from school told me I should look into it,” Shue said.
Dudack had gone to Brevard when she was Shue’s age and highly recommended it.
Shue started taking violin lessons at the age of 5 and has continued through her years at Central Christian. She also has auditioned for and been accepted in the Canton Youth Symphony and Ohio All-State Symphony during her time in high school.
Along with playing in the orchestra, every Brevard student has weekly private lessons over the six weeks they are there and is assigned to a chamber group. Shue was in a string quartet.
“Our days at Brevard started off early because we had class at 8. We rotated between music theory and music literature classes,” Shue said. “After that, we had free time, which I used for practicing. We had orchestra rehearsal in the afternoon, and then on the weekends, we attended concerts by the college and professional orchestras.”
The primary BMC performance venues include the 1,800-seat, open-air Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium and the new 400-seat Parker Concert Hall. One of the nights, the college-age Brevard students played the orchestral music that accompanies the movie “Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back” while the movie played on a big screen. Students sat on the grassy area beside the auditorium while the community showed up in droves.
“It was also so cool to be able to attend so many concerts and be exposed to so much good music,” Shue said. “I’m so grateful for my conductor Ken Lam, who pushed us and held us to high standards because he knew what we were capable of.”
Shue said the biggest challenge was the amount of music they had to learn in a short amount of time.
“Most of us are used to having rehearsals once a week and then a concert every few months,” she said. “At Brevard we basically played a whole year’s worth of music in six weeks. So the beginning of a new week of music was often overwhelming, but we rose to the challenge, and it always came together in the end.”
Shue said she’d like to thank her family for being so supportive and all her teachers and conductors who have helped her become the musician she is today.
“Being at Brevard was such an incredible experience because you are completely immersed in the music,” she said. “Wherever you go, there is music being played, and it’s so inspiring to be with other people your age who are also passionate about classical music and their instrument.”