In Friday’s (1/4) San Diego Union-Tribune (California), Chris Nichols writes, “In the spring, it appeared that the San Marcos Youth Orchestra had played its final note. The all-volunteer group’s founders—a pair of sisters from the Vongsachang family in San Marcos—had headed off to college and no new leaders had emerged. ‘We were actually thinking of stopping the orchestra,’ said Hurjane Vongsachang, 18, who helped found the orchestra in 2007, and watched it grow to between 40 and 50 members. But before packing up their violins and cellos, the founders—who served as the orchestra’s conductors and organizers—asked their younger family members, 14-year-old Hurlink Vongsachang and 13-year-old Huryoung Vongsachang, to turn their passion for playing music into leadership. Nearly a year later, the transformation is complete. On Dec. 21, Hurlink, a freshman at San Marcos High School, and his cousin, Huryoung, an 8th-grader at San Elijo Middle School, led the orchestra at its 6th annual Holiday Recital and Banquet at the San Marcos Community Center. It was the first time the boys had served as conductors and organized the event. … Born in Arizona, the cousins are first-generation Chinese-Americans whose parents are raising them with a love of music. When they moved from Arizona to San Marcos, they were disappointed that a local youth orchestra did not exist, inspiring the sisters to start one.”
Posted January 7, 2013
