DELMAR — During District Superintendent Jody Monroe’s report to board members on Wednesday, the head administrator shared student accolades accomplished outside the classroom; the first of which was that of Romeo Vashishth, featured by WMHT-FM who named him as December’s Classical Student of the Month.
Vashishth, a ninth-grader at the high school, was recently featured in an interview and video performance of Antonin Dvorak’s “Violin Concerto” on the station’s website and social media channels.
“If you haven’t seen it, it is very impressive for a ninth grade student, so congratulations to him,” Monroe said.
His performance with pianist Dan Foster of Dvorak’s “Violin Concerto in A minor, Op.53,” was captured for the media station’s website and social media channels. A lesser known piece by the Czech composer, but Vashishth told WMHT, “It’s a very beautiful one.”
Vashishth said he selected the piece for his feature because it is among his favorites.Ironically, the performer for whom it was originally written for in 1879 did not care for it. Dvorak had dedicated the piece to Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim. Once presented to him, it is said he was critical of the work. At the time, Joachim was an acclaimed performer while Dvorak was a relative unknown. Joachim never performed it in front of an audience.
Though still a high school freshman, Vashishth shares a masters’ critique of his own as he explains the structure of Dvorak’s work. Despite being among his favorites, he said it doesn’t fit well for the instrument he plays. The attention to the middle strings makes it awkward, he said and a challenge to play.
Nonetheless, watching him play his violin it is difficult to discern him from that of a seasoned veteran in a professional orchestra. There’s no evidence of a boy in the midst of what is commonly an awkward time of growing up. The snip-bits of his performance shows him standing tall, gliding his bow across the strings of his instrument, fingers placed with precision and passion as his body sways to the sound — a young man intimately aware of his work. He not only plays the part, his ability to feel the music is evident as well.
“It has beautiful lyrical sections,” Vashishth said. “And although there’s a lot of technical passages, it is still very lyrical throughout.”
The young musician was nominated for the recognition by Empire State Youth Orchestra’s Director of Education David Bebe. He had been working with Bebe for the last three months, he said, and he hopes to continue doing so in the years to come.
“I’m very grateful to him for doing so,” Vashishth said. “I had a wonderful time working with him.”
