My philosophy
As a child, my newfound devotion to becoming a solo violinist engulfed my elementary years with endless hours of joyous practice and discovery, fueled by a desire to perform at technical mastery to gift others the sense of euphoria I felt as a listener. My urgency to spread the beauty of classical music at a young age gave me the wings to fly beyond my art school and into the international concert halls of the UK, France, Taiwan, and Russia, but my experiences uncovered a concern as I began to notice the remarkably low number of classical music enthusiasts around the world. Thus, my quest for musical advocacy began to sprout.
At sixteen, my mission for advocacy was impacted once more thanks to the bravery of a young man within a sea of 16,000 audience members who attended my debut solo performance with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Following the concert, he approached me and confessed that my performance gave him the gift of solace, something he hadn’t felt in a while during his battle with depression. His words struck a deep-rooted chord within my heart and opened my eyes to the extent of my potential as an artist, inspiring me to evolve my mission into a more meaningful quest to advocate the power of classical music as a tool to aid in the global crisis of mental health.
It was during my first semester at Rice University that the sheer impact of mental health became exceedingly prevalent in my own life. The abundance of STEM majors at Rice led the university to cater its orientation week towards the majority, leaving music students like myself to navigate the transition into our new lives on our own. My feelings of isolation and imposter syndrome propelled a greater dedication to aiding myself and my peers through the healing gift of classical music. With countless hours of mindful self-discovery and research within the walls of my practice room, I was eager to share my revelations through the development of my course. As a result, I became one of the first music majors in the history of Rice University to create and teach a college-level course detailing the transformative benefits of music on the brain and accessible to every student regardless of their major.
I was also fueled with a fresh determination to prevent incoming music majors from experiencing the isolation I felt as a freshman, inspiring me to create and launch the Rice Music Affiliate Program serving to bridge the gap between music majors and the rest of the student population while highlighting their importance as artist citizens within the territory of a STEM-dominated campus. With the help of this new program, incoming musicians are now equipped with a plethora of resources to aid in their transition into Rice, including connections to communities around campus within and outside of their major and a personalized Orientation Week schedule with a flexible schedule to fit their practicing needs.
Witnessing the impact of my projects at Rice fueled my confidence to extend my mission to socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Houston. The audience in the spaces of outer Houston differed vastly from the halls of my past, one filled with students who had just begun to settle into life in America. Nevertheless, their eagerness was palpable, transporting me to the first moment I came across classical music. When a group of students came up to me, excitedly expressing that this was their first concert and wanting to learn an instrument themselves, I was moved to tears and felt more driven than ever to expand my mission to an exponentially larger scale.
As I now begin to transition into the realm of my graduate studies, I discovered a new guiding force through former Juilliard president Joseph Polisi and his revolutionary work, The Artist as Citizen. The pinnacle of his speeches at Juilliard emphasized that every artist must dedicate their professional agendas to becoming strong advocates of the arts, which perfectly echoes my holistic mission as a violinist. To me, an artist citizen not only carries the responsibility of sharing their art with extensive communities but, more crucially, possesses the power to pioneer their artistic gifts well beyond their initial intent. By trailblazing the infinite qualities of art into the limelight of today’s ever-changing society, artists can facilitate unprecedented impact upon the world. Between Polisi’s revolutionary vision and my own dreams to transform classical music into a global agent that combats symptoms of mental health, I have now realized my calling as an artist citizen to carry Polisi’s legacy and my own into the hearts of my community and beyond.
I know there exists a future where classical music can be easily accessed by audiences and artists regardless of background, a future where young people all over the world understand and benefit through its beauty, and a future where all my dreams as an artist citizen come true.
