First taking up the violin at age three, Keila Wakao was raised in a musical family with her mother on the piano and her father on the oboe. A regular student at the New England Conservatory of Music, she now plays on a 1690 Stradivarius violin. She performs Clara Schumann’s Romance Op. 22, No. 1 and Polonaise No. 1 in D Major by Henryk Wieniawski, composed when he was 13 years old, the same age Wakao was when she first learned the piece.
This episode is part of Great Performances: Taking Note, a digital series spotlighting rising instrumental artists who have received Career Grant Awards from the Avery Fisher Artist Program. Each year, the Program awards up to five grants of $25,000 to instrumentalists and chamber ensembles in support of their emerging careers.