A recent Stansbury High School graduate continues to impress music judges with her mastery of the flute.
Aniah Young will perform a flute solo with the Utah Symphony on Tuesday at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City.
The 18-year-old flutist was selected after an intense auditioning process with hundreds of applicants, and was one of the few woodwind applicants even considered, according to a program for the event.
“I was so surprised. I tried last year, but something was wrong with my application,” Young said. “I was really nervous playing in front of the judges, and that is usually not the case. They looked so bored, and that didn’t seem good.”
She said the judges had a list of pieces that contestants could play for them, and she chose “Serenade” by Howard Hanson.
For the past six years, Young was a flutist for the Utah Youth Symphony, which is an auditioned group that plays at the University of Utah under the direction of the Utah Symphony.
Young played with Stansbury High School orchestra last year, and was selected Instrumental Music Sterling Scholar.
She is a freshman this year at Weber State University, where she is majoring in music. She has studied flute for eight years with the professor of flute at WSU, Cindy Henderson.
“I love working with Cindy; she has been my favorite teacher,” Young said.
Other highlights for Young over the past 10 years include being featured as a piccolo soloist with the Utah Wind Symphony and receiving a $1,000 scholarship, receiving a Utah Flute Association scholarship, 10-time first-place winner of Utah Flute Association’s sonata competitions, and first-place winner of the Utah Music Teachers Association Concerto competition with a performance in the Assembly Hall,
She has also performed with the Suzuki International Youth Orchestra in Minneapolis, received consecutive Superiors at Federation Flute Festivals for eight years, performed as a member of the Utah All-State band, and was selected as principal chair of the Utah Youth Symphony.
Tuesday’s Utah Symphony concert starts at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are $12 and can be purchased through the Utah Symphony Box Office by calling 801-533-6683.