The "Back to BACH" Project
Students for the Arts!
Estella Xu
Member Since April 2019, R.D. Since April 2020
Estella Xu is a sophomore at Interlake High School and has been playing bassoon for five years. She has studied with Francine Peterson, an active freelancer and teacher in the Puget Sound Area, as well as Dr. Christin Schillinger, the Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Ithaca College School of Music. Estella participates in the Interlake High School Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band as well as the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. In the past, she has also performed in the All-State concert band and chamber orchestra as well as the All-Northwest concert band. In addition to winning several awards in piano performance such as the Snohomish County Music Teachers Association Sonatina And Sonata Festivals, the Snohomish County Music Teachers Association Gold Cup Festival, the North Sound Federation of Music Club Scholarship Competition, and the Snohomish County Music Teachers Association Time Era Festival, she has won the Eastshore Regional Solo and Ensemble Competition on solo bassoon. Estella has also completed the Royal Conservatory of Music exams. In the past summers, she has participated in the Vianden Festival in Luxembourg. She has also organized another community initiative, The Community Whole Note, which strives to bring more performances to the public.
Adeline Kovell
Member Since April 2019
Adeline Kovell has played violin in Seattle Youth Symphony for 9 years and Phinney Ridge Youth Orchestra for 7 years. She has taught private lessons for 4 years, has regularly played in pit orchestras at Edmonds Heights K-12 for 3 years, and has been involved in the Shorewood High School Chamber Ensemble for 3 years. She is currently secretary-elect of the Shorewood High School Tri-M club (Modern Music Masters). She has earned awards at Seattle Young Artists Music Festival and Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside, and has performed at Carnegie Hall with Shorewood High School Chamber Ensemble. She studies violin with Ron Patterson.
Gabriela Vera-Kavanaugh
Member Since Fall 2019
Gabriela has always enjoyed listening to classical music, but found a love for performing it. She has been in a variety of orchestras both in and out of school since fifth grade, and will be a senior in the 2019-2020 school year. Gabriela has attended summer music camps at Cornish College of the Arts, and recently performed in the Marrowstone Music Festival at Western Washington University. She has also played
twice with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra at Benaroya Hall. She is very excited to be a part of the Back to Bach Project and share her love of music!
Anika Meisel
Member Since May 2019
Anika Meisel is a Junior at Garfield High School in Seattle. She started violin when she was five-years-old and has been playing violin for almost twelve years. She currently studies with Michael Jinsoo Lim, concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra; and Emily Acri, a Musical Arts PhD student at the University of Washington. Anika is principal second violin in the Garfield Symphony Orchestra as well as a first violin in Junior Symphony Orchestra through the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO). This past March, she was selected as one of twenty-five finalists in the Seattle Philharmonic’s Bushell Concerto Competition. In the summer of 2018, she attended Marrowstone Music Festival at Western Washington. In addition to performing, she enjoys teaching. For the past two summers, she has mentored students at SYSO Summer Music, a summer music camp designed to give young students a fun and educational orchestral experience. This is her second year of teaching violin at a local elementary school through Seattle Music Partners.
Sue Yu
Member Since April 2020
Violinist Sue Yu currently attends Bellevue High School and studies violin with Jan Coleman. Sue has been playing violin for eight years and has previous piano experience of 2 years. Last summer she attended Meadowmount School of Music, and worked with Elmar Oliveira and Carol Cole.
She has won 1st place in the Seattle International Bach Festival, and 3rd place in Russian Music Festival. She has also received recognition from the Seattle Young Artists Festival Association.
Sue is in her sixth year with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras, currently in the Youth level, and plays chamber music at the Seattle Conservatory of Music. She was also selected for 2020 Washington Music Educators Association All-State Chamber Orchestra.
She is also teaching violin to children in underprivileged areas through Seattle Music Partners. At school, she is part of the music club Performing For A Cause, and performs music at various retirement homes.
Alicia Sun
Member Since April 2020
Alicia Sun was born in Canada and then moved to Seattle with her family in 2017. She has
been playing violin for 6 years and has been in the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO)
for 3 years. She will be 11 years old in July, 2020. Currently she is in Grade 5 at Epiphany
School, she will be joining University Prep for middle school in September. Alicia has been
learning violin for 6 years. Her current violin teacher is Mary Clark who is the 1st violin coach
of Prelude Strings at SYSO. The conductor of SYSO Prelude Strings is Mika Armaly.
Alicia is passionate in helping people and good with younger kids. Last summer she spent a couple of hours demonstrating and playing violin at her sister’s daycare. With her school music teacher's support, Alicia and her friend performed as guests with Grade 1 and Grade 2 students at their annual performance. Alicia took public speaking training a couple of years ago; the training has been helping Alicia present with confidence at front of large audiences.
William Yoon
Member Since April 2020
William Yoon is eleven years old and has been playing viola for two and half years. He studies with Leslie Johnson. He has been a member of the Seattle Youth Symphony Symphonette Orchestra for one and a half years. He loves to play the viola because it has a clear, strong tone. His favorite piece is the third movement of the Seitz Concerto No. 2 because of its melodies. He loves playing it because of the chords and vibrato. He also loves the viola because it helps him focus and think harder. William loves music because it can express feelings and send messages without words. Music can make you feel better physically, emotionally, and mentally. He also enjoys teaching because it allows him to pass the love of music on to other people. He is interested in meeting other musicians and teaching younger musicians. He has experience in teaching other kids through helping others with math and other things.
Amy Lu
Member Since April 2020
Amy has been playing viola for 5 years and is a freshman at Newport High School. She has been playing in the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, a few school orchestras throughout middle school and high school, and the All-state Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, she has also performed in the Marrowstone Music Festival. Before taking on viola, she has also been studying piano for 6 years, and has won multiple awards at the Sonatina Festival. She is extremely excited to introduce and share the joys of classical music with the Back to Bach Project!
Jean Yu
Member Since April 2020
Jean Yu started her cello studies at the age of 7. She attends Bellevue High School as a freshman and currently studies cello with Leslie Marckx. This past summer, Jean attended Meadowmount School of Music and studied under Julia Lichten. She is slated to attend the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute this summer. She has received several awards at the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival, as well as 1st place in several categories in the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside. Jean received Honorable Mention in the Washington MTNA competition in 2019 and was also a cellist in the Washington All-State Symphony Orchestra 2020. Recently she was also selected as a finalist for Coeur d’ Alene Symphony 2020 National Young Artists’ Competition. She is in her 4th year with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras, currently participating in the Youth Symphony orchestra. She also studies chamber music with the Seattle Conservatory of Music and volunteers with Seattle Music Partners to teach cello to children in Seattle.
Omeed Moini
Member Since May 2020