Rosie Wang and Isabella Brown make their long-awaited CSO debuts

For Rosie Wang (flute) and Isabella Brown (violin), the opportunity to perform as soloists with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been a long time coming. As winners of the Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition — Wang in February 2019 and Brown in March 2020 — both musicians were slated to perform in CSO for Kids Family Matinees that were canceled due to the pandemic.

When Family Matinees return to Symphony Center on Oct. 23, Wang will be the featured soloist in Hanson’s Serenade for Harp, Flute and Strings, and Brown will perform as soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Conducted by Thomas Wilkins, the program will introduce younger audience members to classical music and provide a sense of excitement and belonging after a year of uncertainty and isolation. 

Since 1919, the CSO Youth Auditions have featured the most talented young soloists from across Illinois. Now titled the Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, the annual event is presented jointly by the League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO.

Q&A with Rosie Wang

How old are you?

I am 17 years old.

Where do you go to school?

I go to school at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

How old were you when you started playing your instrument?

I was 9 years old when I started playing the flute.

How does playing your instrument help you express your emotions?

Playing the flute helps me envision a story I want to tell in my head and treat my instrument as a self-expression outlet. In telling my story to the audience, I am able to convey emotion through phrasing, dynamics, tone color, articulation and so much more.

Tell about a time when you turned to your instrument and the music you were playing to help you process your feelings?

In times of stress, sadness or anger, I always turn to my instrument. For me, playing the flute is like an escape, and I can fully transition my mind from anything I’m overthinking about to telling a story through my music. Instead of worrying about small, temporary matters in my life, I shift my focus to captivating other people with my music.

What are your hopes for your future?

In the future, I hope to continue turning to flute as a de-stressor, a self-expression outlet and a creative outlet. I am also very passionate about entrepreneurship and hope to run a sustainable company of my own someday.

Rosie Wang has been playing the flute for eight years. She has placed in a multitude of international and national competitions, including winning second prize at the 2021 Enkor International Music Competition, five times at the Chicago Flute Club Student competition, two times at the Walgreens National Concerto Competition and two times at the Society of American Musicians Competition. Rosie went on the 2019 Tour of the Baltics as the co-principal flutist of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and played in concerts in Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Russia.

Aside from the flute, Rosie is involved in business activities, photography and digital design, community service and more. She was recently named the 2022 Distinguished Young Woman of Illinois. Rosie is the co-founder of Sharing the Stand, a nonprofit that delivers free online music lessons to students worldwide; the co-president of the Adlai E. Stevenson High School Chapter of Crescendo for a Cause, a national 501c3 PVSA certifying nonprofit which aims to use music performance as a vehicle for advocacy, and has been directing a volunteering program at the Friendship Village Senior Center, where she organizes weekly instrumental music performances.

Q&A with Isabella Brown

How old are you?

I am 18 years old.

Where do you go to school?

I am currently pursuing my bachelor of music degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where I study with Martin Beaver.

How old were you when you started playing your instrument?

I was 2 years old when I started playing violin.

How does playing your instrument help you express your emotions?

Music transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries in ways that can’t be done with ordinary languages. Through the violin, I can express my deepest emotions in a way that I can’t do with words, and I think that’s really special.

Tell about a time when you turned to your instrument and the music you were playing to help you process your feelings?

I was 10 years old when I moved across the country from Virginia to Illinois to study with Almita Vamos, who became my violin teacher for the next eight years. Going through such a drastic change in my life when I was so young was exciting, but also scary. During that time in my life, which was full of so much uncertainty and unfamiliarity, my violin became something that I could turn to whenever I needed comfort. It was during that time when I realized that I could never live without my violin.

What are your hopes for your future?

My hopes for the future are simply to continue pursuing a career as a professional violinist. I love all kinds of music, so I’m not sure exactly where I will end up, but as long as I am able to keep doing what I love, I know that I’ll be happy!

Isabella Brown is an American violinist pursuing her bachelor of music degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studies with Martin Beaver. She made her solo debut with orchestra at the age of 10 and has since then performed with many orchestras across the country and won first prize in dozens of competitions.

In 2019, Isabella was awarded a top prize in the Cooper International Violin Competition and had the privilege of debuting with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 16. Her performance was praised by critics who wrote that Isabella exhibited “complete control,” “soared out nicely over the big orchestra” and “delivered an intensely lyrical and scintillating performance of the Dvořák Violin Concerto.” She previously studied violin with Almita and Roland Vamos as a Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy. Isabella is thankful to be playing on a Dom Nicolo Marchioni of Bologna, circa 1740, generously on loan to her from Kenneth Warren & Son, Ltd.