MERCERSBURG MAGAZINE SPRING 2007
Live, From the Top Radio broadcast takes the Burgin Center nationwide
In their first days of life, very few performing-arts venues are fortunate enough to host the likes of virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman or a group of young musicians billed as future successors to the world’s most talented instrumentalists and vocalists. But in its first season, the Burgin Center for the Arts has done both. Less than a month after presenting Perlman and members of the New York City Ballet, the Burgin Center’s Simon Theatre was the setting for a November 28 taping of From the Top, one of public radio’s most-heard programs. Perhaps best described as Live from Lincoln Center meets A Prairie Home Companion, From the Top celebrates the excellence of America’s best young classical musicians—and doesn’t take itself too seriously in the process. The show featured five student musicians, including Mercersburg’s own Julie Sohn ’09, during the taping of the hour-long program. In early January, the show broadcast on 250 National Public Radio stations across the country, reaching 750,000 listeners. Additionally, local NBC affiliate WHAG-25 visited campus to interview Sohn and Mercersburg faculty about the show and the new Burgin Center. Sohn, a pianist and native of South Korea who has lived in Canada and New Jersey, was joined on the show by student guest musicians Benjamin Hyman (voice) of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania; Priscilla Wadsworth (flute) of West Blocton, Alabama; Alexis Smith (trombone) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; and Piotr Filochowski (violin) of Saddle Brook, New Jersey (by way of Poland). She performed the opening movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in C Minor to a thunderous reception from the assembled audience of students and faculty members. “It was just a wonderful experience for me to share my music and my life story with others, and to meet other musicians who are just great both, in musicianship and personality,” Sohn said after her performance. “I was overwrought before the taping, but [afterward], I felt like I was dreaming!” She also chatted and participated in a skit with host Christopher O’Riley and announcer Joanne Robinson about what O’Riley called “the most mapped-out future for a student performer we may have ever seen.” Sohn, who often travels 12 hours round trip by car, train, and taxi to study with her piano teacher in New York City, hopes to attend Princeton University and Yale Law School before embarking on a career in corporate law and philanthropy. Her brother, Lawrence Sohn ’08, also attends Mercersburg. From the Top is a Boston-based non-profit that calls the New England Conservatory of Music’s Jordan Hall its home. Through the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award and support from foundations and individuals, From the Top supports young people ages 9–18 who are committed to music and the arts. More information, including show archives, is online at FromtheTop.org.
Top photo: Julie Sohn ’09 at the piano. Bottom photo (l-r): Benjamin Hyman, Piotr Filochowski, host Christopher O’Riley, Sohn, Alexis Smith, Priscilla Wadsworth.
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