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For Luke Self, 15, and April Lee, 18, traveling to Europe and performing in Vienna at the Votive Church in front of an audience of 1,000 was like a dream.

“I was so amazed,” said Luke, a viola player and sophomore at Ragsdale High School. “It was so beautiful.”

April, a senior at the Early College at Guilford who plays the violin, was in awe, too.

“Performing in the Votive Church, the epicenter of the neo-Gothic architectural movement, was definitely the most memorable moment,” she said.

Luke and April were two of 61 members of the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra who toured Europe during spring break.

“Europe has such a unique, sophisticated culture, and the sense of tradition, history and worldliness is astounding,” April said. “Being invited to perform pieces of music where they were written is such an honor, truly.”

The orchestra members, mainly high school students and a few eighth graders, spent three days in Salzburg, Austria, three in Vienna, Austria, and two in Munich, Germany as part of their performance tour.
Led by David Nelson, a professor of music at UNCG, they played two concerts and visited many important sites in musical history.

“The orchestra did a trip to New York City three years ago, and they wanted to do something bigger,” Nelson said.

They held a raffle with violins painted as works of art and did individual fundraisers to pay for the trip.
“It was such wonderful exposure to a different culture in cities with such rich histories,” Nelson said.

The teens also attended a rehearsal of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and four members of the philharmonic worked intensively with the students in groups.

“They learned the highest expectations of professional playing,” Nelson said. “I think the awareness they gained of such high levels of performance is something they’ll keep with them for the rest of their lives.”
Luke agreed.

“It helped me understand music and its power all over the world,” he said.
April was not only awed by the music, culture and rich history, but by the array of languages she heard while on her trip, too.

“I learned that for Europeans, knowing three, four and even five languages is the norm, not the exception,” she said.

April believes the trip has left her a changed musician.

“I realized how blessed those musicians are to be part of such a wonderful, nurturing and supportive group,” she said. “Granted, I’m sure the competition to be in those world-renowned orchestras is pretty cutthroat, but members of those orchestras really feed off one another’s passion for music and passion for what they do, and that passion is inspiring to me.”

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown @news-record.com.