Local students Jialin Tso and Alexander Suh will perform on From the Top this February.
Every Sunday at 6 p.m., many in our area tune into WETA 90.9 FM to hear NPR’S popular show From the Top. The hour-long program showcases America’s best pre-collegiate classical musicians. Saturday, February 29 at 8 p.m., fans can experience the show live when it is recorded at Mason’s Center for the Arts.
Guest hosts Anderson and Roe, comprised of Greg Anderson (a From the Top alum himself) and Elizabeth Joy Roe will emcee the program and perform alongside the young artists selected from hundreds of applicants who vied a spot on the popular show.
Selected from a very competitive national search, four young musicians from Northern Virginia were selected for the Center for the Arts taping, including 12-year-old pianist Ella Kim from Herndon; the Supernova Piano Duo: Jialin Tso, 18, from Chantilly and Alexander Suh, 16, from Fairfax; and 10-year-old violinist Lira Masuda from Glen Allen.
Other featured performers include cellist Levi Powe. The 18-year-old wunderkind from Tucson, Arizona was the winner of the 2018 Junior Division Sphinx Competition and has won many other competitions, including the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artists’ Competition, the Civic Orchestra of Tucson’s Young Artist Competition, the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition, and the Tucson Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Scholarship Competition. Also performing is 17-year-old violinist Phillip Hammond of Bloomington, Indiana. Hammond is the recipient of the Jack Kent Cook Young Artist Award. Of the more than 100 musicians chosen to appear on the radio program every year, approximately 20 will receive Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Awards in support of furthering their musical education.
NPR’s From the Top
Saturday, February 29 at 8 p.m. at the Center for the Arts
Tickets and more information