By Jenny Ding
Knowing how to play an instrument in high school is not a big surprise, but being able to achieve multiple extraordinary achievements at such a young age is exceptional.
Jeffrey Luo – a talented grade eleven pianist who has received dozens of awards, prizes, and scholarships at local competitions and festivals – is undoubtedly a remarkable musician. When Jeffrey was five years old, he first started to play the piano because, according to Jeffrey’s original words, “it looked like a computer keyboard, and at the time, [he] was addicted to video games.” Ever since then, he has participated in competitions on a national and international scale. Besides piano, Jeffrey has played the clarinet for a year in the school band. Jeffrey’s other hobbies include coding, golf, and of course, video games. His favourite style of music is electronic music and pop, and his favourite piano composer is Chopin.
Knowing how to play an instrument in high school is not a big surprise, but being able to achieve multiple extraordinary achievements at such a young age is exceptional.
Jeffrey Luo – a talented grade eleven pianist who has received dozens of awards, prizes, and scholarships at local competitions and festivals – is undoubtedly a remarkable musician. When Jeffrey was five years old, he first started to play the piano because, according to Jeffrey’s original words, “it looked like a computer keyboard, and at the time, [he] was addicted to video games.” Ever since then, he has participated in competitions on a national and international scale. Besides piano, Jeffrey has played the clarinet for a year in the school band. Jeffrey’s other hobbies include coding, golf, and of course, video games. His favourite style of music is electronic music and pop, and his favourite piano composer is Chopin.
Out of the countless achievements Jeffrey has received throughout the years, below are some of his biggest accomplishments:
He placed first in the Canadian Music Competition in both 2007 and 2010, as well as third in 2015, and has been a semifinalist in the Gina Bachauer International Junior Competition and the International Piano-e-Competition. At the 2011 Richmond BC Music Festival, he received four scholarship awards and the Tom Lee Music Trophy for overall Best Performer in all divisions. At the 2013 gala competition of the same festival, he was again awarded the scholarship and top prize as overall best performer. Jeffrey first appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2011 (Mozart Concerto No. 21) when he was only 13 years old, recalling this experience as “one of the highlights of [his] life”. He performed as soloist again in 2013 (Chopin Variations on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano”). In April 2016, he performed with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra (Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini) at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. In addition, Jeffrey has been a third-time performer at the annual Harvest of Music Festival, and performed at numerous healthcare centers around the greater Vancouver area in appearances organized by the Health Arts Society.
We will be hearing more from Jeffrey in the future as he plans to take music production in university.
As a musician, music to Jeffrey is more to than a collection of sounds and syllables. He believes that “music brings people together, since it crosses language barriers”.
Lastly, Jeffrey leaves some wise advice to budding artists: “Since art is relatively easy to create, to become successful, you need to create meaning behind your art”.
He placed first in the Canadian Music Competition in both 2007 and 2010, as well as third in 2015, and has been a semifinalist in the Gina Bachauer International Junior Competition and the International Piano-e-Competition. At the 2011 Richmond BC Music Festival, he received four scholarship awards and the Tom Lee Music Trophy for overall Best Performer in all divisions. At the 2013 gala competition of the same festival, he was again awarded the scholarship and top prize as overall best performer. Jeffrey first appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2011 (Mozart Concerto No. 21) when he was only 13 years old, recalling this experience as “one of the highlights of [his] life”. He performed as soloist again in 2013 (Chopin Variations on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano”). In April 2016, he performed with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra (Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini) at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. In addition, Jeffrey has been a third-time performer at the annual Harvest of Music Festival, and performed at numerous healthcare centers around the greater Vancouver area in appearances organized by the Health Arts Society.
We will be hearing more from Jeffrey in the future as he plans to take music production in university.
As a musician, music to Jeffrey is more to than a collection of sounds and syllables. He believes that “music brings people together, since it crosses language barriers”.
Lastly, Jeffrey leaves some wise advice to budding artists: “Since art is relatively easy to create, to become successful, you need to create meaning behind your art”.