Prodell eighth grader Yiya Hu took second place in a concerto competition held by the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra. Yiya performed “Lalo Symphonie Espagnole in D Minor, Op. 21, Mvt 1” on violin for the 2020-2021 Concerto and Vocal Competition. Yiya has been playing violin since second grade and has participated in New York State School Music Association performances since third grade. As a fifth grader, she received a perfect score at Level VI, the highest in the competition. She has also participated in both Long Island String Festival Association and Suffolk County Music Educators’ Association events and was the concertmistress for SCMEA Division 1 in 2019. She attends the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. Yiya has been in the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra for five years. She is playing violin in the Suffolk Principal Orchestra, the highest-level ensemble of MYO orchestras.

Yiya comes from a musical family and her father – a software engineer at Brookhaven National Laboratory – compared music study to scientific research, citing persistence as a priority. He also shared his gratefulness to the Shoreham-Wading River fine arts department and especially Prodell orchestra teacher Fred Volz and Wading River School music teacher Erin Fasano for their encouragement, appreciation and guidance in helping Yiya become an advanced violin player through the years.

Check out her performance here: https://youtu.be/Ui2F_zuHq-s