The violist, senior Katherine Nguyen, joined the National Youth Orchestra this summer for a global tour with the nation’s top youth musicians. During the tour, Nguyen was one of two students representing the state of Missouri. 

“These musicians are top-tier. These people are going to Harvard, Juilliard, Columbia. I met someone [who’s] going to Curtis. Like, I was playing with people in my viola section that were going to Oberlin. I was really intimidated, too.”

She is the second student in Clayton history to be accepted into this program, following in the footsteps of her older sister, who was the first. Her other accomplishments include being a member of the Missouri All-State Orchestra and the St. Louis Youth Orchestra for all four years of high school, as well as serving as a leader of the Clayton Tri-M Honors Music Society and the Buskers club.

Nguyen’s passion for music began in the first grade when she started playing the piano, and she began playing the violin in fourth grade as part of the school’s violin program. She switched to viola finally in the winter of her sophomore year, for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that the CMS Prep program lacked violists.

“In St. Louis, there was a need for violists, especially in the Prep program,” Nguyen said. “So there [was] an opportunity for me to be in a high-level quartet group when I was a violist. My friends Eric and Aiden were just so good at [the] violin. Either I continue [playing] violin and I don’t have this opportunity, or I switch to viola and I get to work with these amazing people and play very advanced music.”

Nguyen dedicated her junior year to preparing for the rigorous NYO auditions. Still, her vacation to Vietnam and other commitments left her with less time to prepare for the three to four excerpts, a solo, recommendations and two essays.

“You had from July [to] December [to] work on it. I started last year in November, looking at the excerpts. I took those to teachers, [and] worked on them pretty hard,” Nguyen said.

With 12 spots for violists compared to the 28 violinists, the competition motivated Nguyen to practice two hours a day. Nguyen was only able to practice the excerpts for a month because of other violin competitions she had to practice for. 

“Within that month, I got really busy with school,” Nguyen said. “The week of recording auditions, I got sick and had to record the day [it] was due [and] the night before. I trapped myself in the Webster Community Music School and taped my excerpts for hours on end until 11 o’clock. That was a stressful time.”

After her submission, Nguyen was anxious to hear about her audition results, which would be announced three months later. Comparing herself to her friends and people online, she could not stop worrying about the future of her application. When she received the acceptance email, she was filled with anticipation about how it would turn out.

“I remember sitting in my Spanish class [when] I saw the Carnegie email come up,” Nguyen said. “I was so scared to open it, like my heart started shaking. I knew it was the decision, and [when] I opened it, I couldn’t even scroll down the email because I was so scared. I just stared at a picture for a second. But when I scrolled down, [I] realized I got in and it was like, ‘Congratulations!’ My heart was still rushing.”

After the excitement from the email, Nguyen immediately told her family and friends, including orchestra teacher and Tri-M sponsor Daniel Henderson. He has witnessed the development of her playing proficiency and has taught her in orchestra since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“She’s driven, she’s organized, she’s thoughtful, she is service-minded towards the community, and she has a great sense of humor,” Henderson said.

Nguyen has held positions in five clubs and plays a key role in the Very Asian Foundation as an active volunteer. To handle the leadership of clubs, as well as the challenging coursework in school, she has to commit to everything she does.

“Be genuinely passionate [and] enjoy the things that you do. Because if you can spend time doing what you like to do, it just makes everything easier. Hang out with people who are like-minded to you and want to achieve things,” Nguyen said.