On March 1st, inside Thayer Hall at The Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles, 14-year-old Erin Zhou stood center stage, violin poised, heart pounding, with the conductor, Dr. Gene Chung, by her side.
Behind her sat the Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic Chamber — a 24-member ensemble selected from nearly 400 musicians in the larger Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (LAYPO). In front of her sat family members and friends who had made the nearly two-hour drive down from Lake Arrowhead to support her.
She took a breath — and began the third movement of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor.
Zhou, an eighth grader at Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School, was nominated this season as a featured soloist with the elite chamber ensemble. The distinction is highly competitive.
“Dr. Chung usually gets around 240 soloist audition videos and only accepts 60 to 70 a year,” Zhou explained. “That means about 10 to 12 soloists per concert. Many of the people who audition were requested by the conductor to audition for the solo, so it is very competitive.”
Even reaching that stage requires multiple levels of audition. Students must first earn a place in the symphony orchestra itself before being eligible to apply as a soloist.
“To apply, you must already be enrolled as a symphony member in LAYPO,” she said. “Being nominated as a soloist doesn’t necessarily mean you officially can play the solo. There’s another process where you have to send in at least three sets of repertoire that are all very well prepared and performance-ready. He chooses one of the three options for you to play, so you have to be ready for anything.”
From there, preparation intensifies. Soloists must attend rehearsals consistently while balancing both the featured role and orchestral responsibilities.
“You have to be proactive and show persistence and full effort for both your solo and the orchestral parts,” Zhou said.
She began studying the Bruch concerto in January 2025, starting with the first movement. After a brief pause, she began the third movement in September when the school year resumed.
The piece has come to represent more than technical achievement.
“The Bruch concerto is very special to me,” Zhou said. “I spent my entire career listening to myself and wishing I could’ve done things better and feeling like I wasn’t worthy of the title I hold. But when I first performed the first movement, that was the moment I realized that I can play violin the way I practiced and trained for.”
She credits her teachers, Mui Yee Chu Barry and Linda Wilson, with helping shift her mindset and push her artistry forward.
The third movement, however, became a breakthrough.
“The first time I performed it with an audience, I was bummed because I did not achieve the sound I had been working for,” she admitted. “But then I performed it at Thayer Hall, and I was very happy because I got what I wanted — and even more than I expected. It showed me that my practice and efforts had been worth it.”
As she walked on stage that evening, nerves were unmistakable.
“While I walked into my position as the soloist, I tried my best to ignore the loud thumping of my heart,” she said. “I told myself it’s just another lesson and that the audience is here to listen, not judge. I should just be in the moment, because it’s not something I will ever do again in my life.”
The anxiety had started earlier, during the piece immediately preceding hers.
“So many thoughts filled my head that it became overwhelming,” she said. “So I thought about all of the practice and corrections I have received and tried my best to put them into my mind.”
Then came the opening passage — once the section she believed she could never master.
“Two weeks before I officially started the Bruch, I told my mom, ‘There is no way I could ever accomplish this opening,’” Zhou said. “And then here I am now, on stage performing the very opening I thought was impossible.”
The performance was dedicated not to a mentor or family member — but to herself.
“I dedicated this performance to myself because I have recently recognized my improvement within the past year,” she said. “Playing on stage with orchestral accompaniment helped me remember what I practice for and why I practice.”
Zhou has been playing violin since age six. In addition to her work with LAYPO — now in her fourth season — she serves as co-concertmaster of the Mountaintop Strings of California. She has performed solos at Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall and has appeared in numerous local concerts throughout Southern California.
Being selected into the 24-member chamber ensemble carries its own meaning.
“It reminds me that I have been chosen out of 400 people who are highly skilled and hardworking,” she said.
Chamber orchestra, she explained, requires a different level of accountability.
“In a chamber orchestra, there are fewer people, which means more is required from a singular person. You have to really dig into the music and find yourself in it. Someone can’t do your voice for you when you struggle.”
Despite being one of the youngest members of the group, she does not focus on age.
“Being the youngest doesn’t mean you’re the best, nor does it make you the worst,” she said.
In the audience were her family and a group of close friends from Lake Arrowhead who drove down after a long dance rehearsal to support her.
“I was so stoked that my closest friends could come,” Zhou said. “They were willing to drive all the way to L.A. and were still excited to watch me. It means a lot because I don’t know what I could do without all of the people in the community who have supported my dreams.”
During the performance, she noticed two faces in particular — her conductor and a woman she did not know.
“Dr. Chung had a look of excitement, joy and pure enjoyment,” she said. “He told me the Bruch concerto is a masterpiece written in the form of art as music.”
Then there was the audience member.
“When I played the opening, she made a face of shock — but in a good way,” Zhou recalled. “Later, during a beautiful phrase, she started crying. At first I thought it was funny, but when I think about it, she probably felt something powerful enough to overcome her.”
When the final note rang out, relief followed.
“Immediately after the last note, I thought, ‘Yay! It’s done! I finished the piece strong,’” she said. “I wasn’t exactly proud of myself, but I felt good about the performance.”
Looking ahead, Zhou’s musical path continues to expand.
This summer, she will tour Italy as co-concertmaster with Mountaintop Strings of California, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons — the youngest musician in the group to do so. She will also compete in Cremona, widely regarded as the historic heart of violin craftsmanship.
“Italy is known as the heart of music,” she said. “Touring there is huge for any musician. I’m excited to express my violin playing on a different continent.”
After Italy, she will return to perform again at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Carnegie Hall with LAYPO before the year concludes.
Reflecting on beginning violin at age six, Zhou said she always believed big opportunities were possible — if she worked for them.
“My former teacher had done the same Italy tour,” she said. “So I knew I had to try hard enough and put in as much effort as I could.”
Saturday’s performance at Thayer Hall may have been one evening in downtown Los Angeles, but for a 14-year-old musician from Lake Arrowhead, it marked something larger — a breakthrough in confidence, artistry and belief.
“This performance could show just the beginning of many solos I could play with any orchestra,” Zhou said.
If her sound at Thayer Hall was any indication, that beginning is already well underway.