Jackson P. My music tastes are all over the map. I guess that’s the way it should be. I love Gillian Welch and Aimee Mann, I love opera, And, because of my daughter, I have to say that Lana Del Rey’s last album is a masterpiece. But I have a special place for Russian composers, especially Shostakovich, so it was a pleasure to meet Jackson on a recent crazy windy day. “I've been playing violin since I was four,” he says, “and it's the center of my life.”
I’ll let him tell: “For the first few years, violin was just a hobby. But when I was ten I won a competition and got to perform in public. That experience made me realize that music is what I want to do. I've been lucky enough to perform at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage and the embassies of Luxembourg, Italy, and the Netherlands. When I was thirteen, I had the amazing experience of performing at Carnegie Hall, something I had always dreamed of. I spent my four high school years playing in the Yorktown orchestra (colloquially known as the "Yorkestra"), led by the venerable Mr. Hartman, where I was privileged to serve as concertmaster.
I made some of my best friends in the Yorkestra, and I looked forward to our annual trips. We visited Philadelphia, Boston, and Nashville. I stay in touch with my friends and teachers, but nothing is as good as seeing people in-person. I'm disappointed about not getting to experience the traditional senior events of prom and graduation, since they're both big parts of American culture. My biggest disappointment, though, was missing out on my final Yorkestra trip, which was scheduled for New York City this spring. And we'll miss our final concert, in June, where we seniors could have celebrated our achievements and our time in the Yorkestra. It was going to be a special concert: we were going to perform Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, and my violist friend (also a senior) and I were to play the solo parts with the orchestra backing us. I'm sad that my remaining time at Yorktown was cut short, and that I wasn't able to say my goodbyes to everyone.”
Location: Arlington, Virginia.
