Students from the Donna Fishwick Piano Ensemble have earned their way to the Carnegie Hall stage.
The students won the opportunity after auditions for the Crescendo International Piano Competition held in December in Vancouver. Angela Hu, Brandon Jong, Ryan Zhu, Jasper Liang and Jasper Yoo earned first place in their category at the local auditions and will be performing in the Big Apple on Feb. 17.
Fishwick is a longtime New Westminster resident and former Bernie Legge Cultural Award winner who has run her award-winning piano studio in Burnaby for 50 years.
The students' recent achievement is just the latest in a string of successes for the studio.
Angela, Brandon and Ryan will all be earning gold medals at the Royal Conservatory of Music's convocation ceremony at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on March 2 - the medals are awarded to the students who have achieved the highest marks in B.C. in piano examinations at their grade level. Angela is the Grade 4 medallist, Brandon topped the Grade 5 standings and Ryan was head of the Grade 7 exams. (Both Jaspers have won gold medals in previous years).
The performers also recently came off a stellar performance with Lions Gate Sinfonia, under the direction of Clyde Mitchell, Jan. 26 in North Vancouver.
Each played one movement of a piano concerto.
Fishwick said the comments from the audience after their performances were nothing short of amazing.
"It's just unbelievable!" she said.
For more on Fishwick's students, check out the Young Pianists in Recital Society website at www.yprs.ca.
