Cascade Symphony Children's Concert
$10 ($3 student/youth)
- Cascade Percussion Ensemble
- Lin Tokura, violin
- Jimmy Huang, piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218 ("I. Allegro"; Lin Tokura, violin)
Franz Joseph Haydn — Keyboard Concerto in G major, Hob. XVIII:4 ("I. Allegro moderato"; Jimmy Huang, piano)
Georges Bizet — Carmen (selections; performed with 'The Story of Ferdinand the Bull' by Munro Leaf; David Dolacky, narrator)
Featuring performances by the Cascade Percussion Ensemble and Rising Star Competition Winners Lin Tokura (violin) and Jimmy Huang (piano) – plus a reading of Munro Leaf's The Story of Ferdinand the Bull with music from Bizet's Carmen, narrated by Seattle radio personality David Dolacky.
About Lin Tokura, violin
Winner of the Young Talents Gold Prize at the 2019 Paris International Music Competition, Lin Tokura, age 11, recently Second Prize at the 2022 International Arthur Grumiaux Competition for Young Violinists in Belgium. She has also been a top prize winner at the Crescendo International Music Competition, the London Festival Competition where she received the Judges Best Performance Award and the New York Concert Festival International Competition where she received the Grand Prix and was named International Soloist of the Year 2019. She has performed recitals several times in Carnegie Hall, Bösendorfer Hall Mozarthaus, and Amadeus International School while on an International Concert Scholarship Tour to Vienna. She was invited to participate in the Cremona Music Festival in Italy as the youngest ambassador from Japan when she was 5. After beginning violin at age 2.5 in Tokyo, she moved to the Seattle area and continued her studies with Mihoko Hirata. Lin joined the Coleman Studio as a student of Jan Coleman in 2020. Since joining the studio, she has won several local competitions including Simon-Fiset and PAFE. Lin currently studies with Simon James, a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In addition to music, Lin is a voracious reader, a prize winner in the Japan National Calligraphy Competitions, and a member of the award-winning Junior Hip Hop Team.
About Jimmy Huang, piano
Jimmy Huang is a student at Lakeside Middle School. He has been studying with Dr. Yelena Balabanova at the International Conservatory Studio since 2015.
In 2022, Jimmy notably won Gold Medals in the Bellevue Symphony Concerto Competition, SCMTA Concerto Competition as well as the Cascade Symphony Rising Star Concerto Competition. He performed with Mukilteo Orchestra in December 2022 and will perform with Bellevue Chamber Orchestra in March 2023. Jimmy won Gold Medals in the Sonafest, Chopin NW Festival, Charleston International Baroque Festival and participated in the Seattle Piano Institute at the UW. Jimmy was selected for the prestigious Seattle Chamber Music Academy and performed at Benaroya Hall. He participated in masterclasses with Craig Sheppard, Anne Marie McDermott, Marta Aznavoorian, and Sasha Starcevich.
In 2021, Jimmy won the Grand-prix and four Gold Medals in the Bach Prelude and Fugue, Concerto, Chopin, and Mozart categories at the Northern Lights International Piano Festival in Sweden. Jimmy won Gold Medals in the Chopin Northwest festival, the Simon-Fiset competition, the Best of Festival in the Time Era Festival and Best First Timer at Simon-Fiset. He was selected to perform at the WA State Music Teachers Conference representing the Seattle Chapter. Highlights of Jimmy's previous awards include the Platinum Award at the WPTA Singapore International Competition and Winner of the Steinway Regional competition, resulting in being one of 5 National finalists.
Jimmy is one of the youngest students to pass the Comprehensive Level 10 Examination of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada with First Class Honors with Distinction. Currently, Jimmy serves the music peer community as a Secretary of the International Beethoven Society of Young Musicians which organizes fundraising for urgent global causes. Jimmy participated in fundraising concerts for the Human Rights and war victims in Ukraine.
In his free time, Jimmy likes to compose, play tennis, ski, and travel.