Senior Jon Fu is one of the many talented musicians who contributes greatly to the music program on campus. Jon plays the violin and piano, but his main focus at the moment is the violin. “I started playing the violin in second grade, which was the first opportunity I got to play an instrument, and I loved it,” he said.
Within the community, Jon is the concertmaster in the orchestra and Head Officer for the Tri-M, a Music Honors Society. Creative Arts teacher and Director of the string ensemble Richard Chiarappa said that he knew Jon was fit for the role of concertmaster. “I could see that Jon was ready to be concertmaster; there requires a certain skill of a person in that position,” he said. “They have to be flexible and willing to work with people.”
Outside of the KO community, Jon has been playing with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra for the past three years. “I enjoy working with them because it gives me an opportunity to play more with different people” Jon said. Jon uses music as a way to escape reality. “One thing I love about music is being able to lose track of time, whether it is playing or listening to it,” he said. Jon gets inspiration from Maxim Vengerov, a professional violinist. “I love the style that he plays in and am amazed by his ability to play so carefree,” he said.
Jon also loves experiencing music come to life. “One of my favorite things about music is hearing notes that are simply written on a piece of paper being played,” he said. Students who have had the opportunity to listen to Jon play rave about his musical skills. “Listening to Jon play during whole school concerts and by himself always impresses me, you can tell he really loves what he’s doing,” senior Andrew Holland said.
Senior Adam Sonntag said that Jon is a very talented musician. “He always plays very nicely,” he said. Jon’s love for the violin has grown throughout the years, and he doesn’t plan on stopping. He plans to continue playing music after high school.“I plan on playing in college with the school’s orchestra,” he said.
