A Little Lady with Big Dreams

Since 1978, March has been celebrated as Women’s History Month. In 1981, Congress made this weeklong holiday official, proclaiming it Women’s History Week, and extended it to a monthlong celebration in 1987. So it seems appropriate, this month, to feature some of Mission Viejo's gifted young women in music.

I discovered two young ladies with big dreams who are busy making a difference in the Mission Viejo community and the world at large. On Saturday, March 12, Shelby Wong and Katarina “Kasia” Kosmala-Dahlbeck will be featured in concert at Saddleback College in the McKinney Theatre. They will be joined by a young man I met some weeks ago at a college Jazz Ensemble rehearsal: trombonist Tyler McGeough. These three young musicians are winners of the Annual Music Teachers Association of California Concerto Competition and will perform with the symphony orchestra conducted by Carmen Dominguez.

Shelby Wong is an 11-year-old Gifted and Talented Education student at Carl Hankey Middle School in Mission Viejo.  At the tender age of 4, she began her piano studies with Aleli Tibay. Under the tutelage of Pamela Worcester, Shelby has accumulated an amazing list of awards, honors and performances. In 2009 she won the gold medal at the Seattle International Piano Festival and first place at the Southwestern Youth Music Festival (SYMF) in the piano concerto category. In 2010, she expanded her talents, winning the SYMF American composer category and made her orchestral debut in May 2010 with the Laguna Woods Village Symphony Orchestra.

Not only does she excel as a pianist, but she also plays violin. Shelby was proud to act as concertmaster for her middle school orchestra. I recently interviewed this talented young lady.

Patch:  I understand you are an artist who draws as well as makes music. What do you like drawing pictures of, and do you also paint?

Shelby Wong:  I like to draw pictures of the world around me, and I also love to draw cartoons. I have used pastels, watercolor, oil paint, charcoal and pencil.

Patch:  What books have you most recently enjoyed?

Wong:  I love to read. It’s hard to say, since I like almost all the books I read, but two recent favorites are The Mysterious Benedict Society and Warriors: Into the Wild.

Patch:  I think it’s wonderful that you’re so community-oriented. Tell me about some of the charity groups you’ve performed for and how you offer your services at various hospitals and senior centers.

Wong:  Last year on Mother's Day, a charity group that I was involved with raised a lot of money for AmeriCares, the program we were sponsoring. Aside from that, I have performed monthly piano and violin recitals at Mission Hospital since 2009, and I also go to local retirement homes and senior centers numerous times to perform there.

Patch:  How was your trip to England?  It sounds wonderful.  Tell me about your performance as part of the 2008 International Young Musicians Concert in Cambridge.

Wong: Yes, that was fun! Although I was only an 8-year-old at the time, I remember that it was really exciting. Since I was short then, I remember having to use a pedal extension and how the man there didn’t know how to set it up.

Patch:  What inspires you to compose music?

Wong:  I like to compose music because it’s fun to do, and it is wonderful to hear it when it’s completed. Recently, I made some fun music for my school’s DI [Destination Imagination] team.

Patch:  Do you have an iPod?  Who do you listen to on your iPod?

Wong:  No, I do not have an iPod, but I listen to music on CDs, on 91.5 FM, [a classical radio station] and live.

Patch: How do you think music has changed your life, and how do you think it affects the lives of other people?

Wong:  I think that music has changed my life in the way that I see things. I convert places and times into music. Whenever I do something or go somewhere, I try to fit music into the mood. For example, if I am swimming, then I would think about some music I know and play it in my mind. I would try out different pieces of music to fit that occasion. Another example would be if I hear maybe raindrops, thunder or a lightning storm, I would try to figure out matching music. I also make up stories for all the music I learn and play. I think my music affects others in the way that they start to enjoy music and start to feel the music.

Tickets to the performances by Shelby and the other two gifted students are $10 general, $7 students/seniors. Call the ticket office at 949-582-4656 to order your tickets or online at saddleback.edu/arts.  The show begins at 8 p.m. See you there!