The future is in good hands with the musicians of the ASO’s Talent Development Program

Players with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Talent Development Program converged Sunday, September 14, at Spivey Hall for a recital showcasing the program’s top talent. Conceived in 1993 as an initiative to boost Black and Hispanic participation in classical music, the program has become a mainstay of music education in the Atlanta area. All students, except two harpists, were accompanied on piano by either Sharon Berenson or Choo Choo Hu.

There is a certain “punk rock” energy that is intrinsic to young musicians. It’s that confluence of impulsive tenacity and childlike bravado that seems almost superhuman when observed by older generations. As such, youth classical programs have a unique challenge: harnessing that potent energy while tempering it with the delicate touch and contemplative grace that are borne out of personal maturity.

The efficacy of that maturation is at the forefront of any evaluation of the Talent Development Program. There’s no doubt that the program has accomplished its goal of galvanizing ethnic minority students to participate in classical music. Now, what about the mentorship and growth that separates promise from fulfillment?

Painted in broad strokes, the players of Sunday’s recital were shining examples of that newfound professionalism, even if shortfalls were hinted at along the way. Cellist and featured guest artist Joseph Brown opened the concert with Zart und mit Ausdruck from Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke op. 73 for clarinet and piano. Brown, a 2018 alumnus of TDP and more recently a graduate of the Cleveland School of Music, laid down a gauntlet for the afternoon’s subsequent players: His bowing technique was as deft as it was rich, indicating the level of technical mastery to which his school-age counterparts should aspire.

Following Brown was high school senior Tristan Lewis, performing the first movement of Prokofiev’s “Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 53.” Lewis’ technical mastery is promising — he navigated intricate passages with relative ease and demonstrated a remarkable level of interplay with Hu’s accompaniment. There were, however, moments where his vibrato was a bit too embellished, which made the playing a bit difficult to follow in its more chaotic moments.

The afternoon’s two harpists (seniors Myron Leonard and Amber Nelms) both fared well. Leonard performed Marcel Lucien Tournier’s “Etude de Concert: Au Matin,” and it proved to be a piece that utilized that youthful vigor to great effect. The work is heavily arpeggiated and thus lends itself to the kind of frenetic displays of technical skill that often fascinate younger players with a contrapuntal bass motif that forms the emotional undercurrent. It was exactly the right choice for a player technically gifted, verging on emotive sublimity.

Nelms emerged as one of the most developed and engaging players of the afternoon. Her piece, Brandee Younger’s “Essence of Ruby,” is a contemporary piece (and Younger, born 1983, was the only living composer on the program). The work was thus liberated from stylistic constraints of specific time periods and alternated between bardic medieval motifs and eastern pentatonic flourishes. There was a lot of meat on the emotional bone with this one, and Nelms tore into it with passion and precision. She received the most enthusiastic audience response, and rightly so.

Throughout the afternoon, the ongoing theme of burgeoning mastery at war with the follies of youth played out in various forms: 8th-grade violinist Emma Gierum-Arellano had extraordinary technical command even as she seemed sheepish on stage (Relax, kid — you’ve got what it takes.) French horn players Sean Mouzon and Brielle Browne both showcased considerable virtuosity, but both had the odd moment or two of strain in their otherwise robust tone production. 

In addition to Nelms, the other two players that made me forget I was listening to kids were flutist Isabella Torres, grade 8, and violinist Waverly Alexander, senior. Torres’ tone production was par excellence, and her performance of Jean-Marie LeClair’s “Flute Sonata in C major” was captivating. Having had a brief sojourn with the instrument myself when I was around Torres’ age, I know all too well what a beast it can be from an embrasure standpoint, especially in the upper register. Top marks all around for her. 

Waverly Alexander, whom I interviewed for our 2025 Ones to Watch, closed out the program with Paganini’s “Caprice in B-flat major, op. 1, no. 13,” and did so without sheet music. The work features harmonized chromatic runs that give it a contemporary semblance, and Alexander leaned into that with a harder edge in her tone than one normally hears in the fleet-fingered compositions of Paganini. As a result, her interpretation was more akin to contemporary players like Jean-Luc Ponty or Mark Wood than a traditional classical interpretation. It’s a bold choice and one that spoke to Alexander’s tremendous potential.

It’s important to close with an affirmation: This was not amateur hour. While teenage musicians will invariably open themselves up to more obvious degrees of critique (and the teacher in me is happy to oblige) than seasoned pros, the TDP players were all commendable and exceptional. They just need to grow up a little bit, and they’ve got plenty of time.

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.