NICOLAS LAU, MUSICIAN AND MENTOR
Is talent something you are born with, or something that can be nurtured? Whichever it is, the children of ELM are given the opportunity to find out.
At the age of seven, one of ELM’s first students, Nicolas Lau fell in love with music learning to play the recorder. Jane was his teacher. He admits, “I played my recorder in the bathroom, my bedroom, in every room of the house, in the day and into the evening and my mother cried, because I did it so often.” After two years of playing the recorder, Jane suggested he try another instrument. He chose the violin.
Nicolas was only 11 when the first National El Sistema Orchestra played at the Aspen Music Festival, in 2015. He wanted to audition, but the age minimum was 12. Jane wrote and asked for an exemption, due to his maturity. They relented and he made the cut. He has done the same every year since playing in the National Youth Symphony Take A Stand. In ensuing years, 100 students ages 12 to 18 from 34 El Sistema-inspired and aligned programs across 30 cities and 15 states, have come together for an intensive seven-day national youth orchestra festival, culminating in a concert conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Disney Concert Hall. Pretty heady stuff for anyone, let alone someone so young.
Nicolas said, “When I was eleven, I traveled by myself and I was scared, but I met so many people. We learned a lot, and we played seven or eight hours each day. And, I kid you not, I loved every single second of it. I loved every piece, but my favorite was a piece by Tchaikovsky, Marche Slave. It gave me the chills. After that experience, I’d play that piece every day for two months, and I’d get chills every time.”
Along his music journey, recognizing his passion and talent, a donor sponsored private lessons for Nicolas with violinist and teacher Michael Grossman.
Nicolas joined his school’s orchestra in 6th grade but decided to skip that in 7th grade because he didn’t feel challenged. That is until he was invited, by his ELM teacher, to join a program she was involved in with the Marin Youth Symphony. There he met other musicians more skilled than we was, lighting a match to his competitive spirit.
By 8th grade, his mother encouraged him to rejoin his school orchestra and help other children to improve their skills. Tutoring other youth awakened an interest in him to consider teaching. By 11th grade he even experienced the challenges of remote teaching through Zoom. At the request of his ELM teacher, he worked with new students, some of whom had never held a violin before. “To teach them from scratch was hard. Much of it was music theory, but they also learned how to play, and I was really happy with what we were able to accomplish.”
In his senior year now, this talented young musician is applying to colleges to continue pursuing his education and his dreams.