Courtesy of State College Area School District
By Chris Rosenblum
SCASD Director of Communications
He couldn’t go out to play, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t play.
As a small child in Singapore, Baron Cao suffered from medical issues that kept him from recess. Instead, his mother would bring him home from school, and he would entertain himself by working out songs by ear on the piano.
“It helped me get through the day a lot,” he recalled.
Now 15 and a State High sophomore, Cao has come far after seven years of formal study — all the way to performing with the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra.
Cao won the annual WSO Young Artist Competition, topping musicians from across the region. As a result, he will play his winning piece, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488, at the symphony’s holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport.
For the second year in a row, a State High student will take the stage. Pianist Mahima Kumara, now at Yale University, won last year’s competition and performed the first movement of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the symphony.
In fact, Kumara inspired Cao to apply. They’re friends who study with the same local teacher, pianist Dea Baba, and were among the 25 finalists at the prestigious Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition last June in South Carolina.
After the competition, in which Cao placed fourth, Kumara suggested entering the Young Artist Competition. Cao, having never performed with an orchestra, was intrigued.
“I was like, ‘I’ll give it a shot,’ ” he said.
He had solo awards, but as he found out, meshing with an orchestra was a different challenge. He couldn’t change tempo at his whim. He had to follow the conductor. His mistakes could throw off the other musicians.
“It’s a much more strict level of playing,” he said, noting that he’ll also have to adjust to playing before a live audience as opposed to just judges. “It’s a whole concert, and the audience obviously has expectations. I’m really eager and excited to share my music with the audience.”
One thing stayed the same. He always strives to interpret the composer’s ideas and communicate them to other ears.
To achieve that is why he practices at least three hours daily, more on weekends; hopes to study piano at a conservatory or college; and wishes to pursue a music career. He loves science and math — and enjoys discussing math’s relationship to music — but notes, chords and scales express his true passion, his true self.
“Music to me is like a language. You’re speaking to the audience,” he said. “That’s the goal of all musicians. You try to convey (the meaning) to your audience. When you convey it to the audience, that’s the best feeling a musician can have.”
Photo by Nabil K. Mark
