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Nicole Klatt, a senior and principal cellist in Symphony Orchestra, is the winner of the Club level of the Arcadia Dan Stover Music Contest and will be competing in the Regional level on May 18th. Nicole began playing the cello in fourth grade, and orchestra has remained a constant in her life, whether it’s playing in school with friends or outside of school in the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra.
The Dan Stover Music Contest is a music scholarship program held by the Rotary International District 5300 to honor Dan Stover, an established Rotarian and musician. Despite winning this scholarship, Nicole says she is “simply grateful that the judging panel in the Dan Stover Music Contest had this positive feedback towards my playing”. She believes this success encourages her to keep practicing and achieve her future goals.
Throughout her life, Nicole has had various musical goals, starting with first understanding and connecting with the cello. She says it had taken her a while to feel like she was fully in control of the instrument and replicate music the way it sounded in her head. After reaching this goal, the next step was to continue her studies in cello to be able to produce sound to the best of her ability.
Being in orchestra is an undoubted facet in Nicole’s life. On top of making some of her closest friends in orchestra, Nicole says she has gotten exposure to so many other aspects of people and music. Playing with musicians of different skill levels and different experiences provides a new way for Nicole to explore music, since each musician brings their own personality into the orchestra. As a senior, Nicole has met different people coming in and out of orchestra each year and says she has had the pleasure of learning life with so many different musical talents.
Congratulations, Nicole, and good luck on Regionals and in all your future ensembles and studies!