Spotlight on the 2025-2026 Vermont Youth Orchestra Senior Soloists
For their 2025 - 2026 season, the Vermont Youth Orchestra presents a quartet of Senior Soloists who will be highlighted at concerts in October and December 2025, and February and May 2026. Ahead of each concert, Vermont Public Classical will bring you interviews with these talented young musicians. For more information about the Vermont Youth Orchestra and their upcoming season, go to vyo.org
TRANSCRIPT
HELEN LYONS: On Sunday afternoon the Vermont Youth Orchestra embarks on an adventure in their midwinter concert titled, Charting a Course. The orchestra takes to the Flynn’s mainstage with music by Ethel Smyth, Johannes Brahms, and a premiere of a new piece by Music COMP student Holden Friesel. Headlining the concert is the VYO’s third senior soloist of the season, pianist Naomi Shpaner. I had a delightful chat with Naomi a few weeks ago, which we’ll enjoy now.
NAOMI SHPANER: I'm Naomi Shpaner. I'm a senior at Colchester High School and I play French horn and piano, and I'm doing my Vermont Youth Orchestra senior solo on piano. I'm doing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto Number two, the second movement. I started playing piano when I was about seven years old, but I didn't really take it seriously until I was probably 10. When I first started piano, I hated it. My parents forced me to practice, and I quit several times.
HELEN: But here you are as a VYO Senior Soloist - you persevered! (laughter) So, Rachmaninoff second piano concerto. I think it's the most beautiful and you've also chosen the beautifully lyrical second movement. What inspires you about this movement?
NAOMI: Well, the most beautiful part of the piece, I think, is the very end where you kind of have this tension building up throughout the entire thing. And then at the end, it just resolves so beautifully. But I also think what's really inspiring about the piece in general is that Rachmaninoff wrote it after he composed his first symphony and the first symphony was very badly received and he had to take a break in composing. He got very depressed. So when he came back to write this piece, he took a very courageous step to put himself back out there as a composer and that's very inspiring to me.
HELEN: Yeah, because mental health struggles are no joke and it can just sap you of all your passion and energy for sure.
NAOMI: Yeah, it's hard as a musician because you're really vulnerable when you're performing and when you don't feel good about yourself - obviously there's going to be performances you feel good about and performances you feel bad about. When you don't feel good about yourself, it can feel really scary to come back and do another performance, but that's what makes it art and that's what makes it beautiful.
HELEN: On your musical journey, have you had a particular mentor or a piece of advice that has shaped the way you approach music?
NAOMI: One of my teachers always tells me that you can only play something as good as you are in that certain moment, and you shouldn't beat yourself up over not being as perfect as you want it to be.
HELEN: What are some of the challenges you’ve had in preparing the Rachmaninoff?
NAOMI: Everybody told me that it would be impossible for me to ever play Rachmaninoff. I have small hands and pianists all know that Rachmaninoff is not really something you play when you have small hands. So there are definitely a lot of challenges associated with that, because he has these huge chords that are really hard to reach and I have to use a lot of clever tricks that don't really fall within the bounds of regular piano technique. I'm basically breaking a lot of rules of regular technique - but that's what I've got to do to play it! There have been a lot of times when people have told me that I can't do something and that just kind of makes me want to do it more.
HELEN: So outside of music and, and practicing, which is totally fun, what other things do you enjoy doing that kind of recharge your batteries and keep you in a creative mode?
NAOMI: Well, I'm a dancer. I dance ballet and modern and it's very tied to music because you're basically just physically connecting with music, but I love it. That just makes me love music more.
HELEN: What is a piece of advice that you would give to younger musicians who are just starting out?
NAOMI: The better you get, the more fun you'll have. So you just have to get to that stage where you can sight read well, where you have a good base of technique, and then you'll just have so many more opportunities. It can be really slow starting out, but you just have to get past those first few years and it'll be so amazing.
HELEN: So, in other words, practice.
NAOMI: Yeah. (laughter) But be smart about your practicing, because it doesn't matter if you practice three hours a day if you're not being efficient in how you're practicing. Learning this piece, there were certain days when I only had 20 minutes to practice and I used those 20 minutes as efficiently as I possibly could.
HELEN: Tell us what's going to be so cool about this upcoming concert. Why should people come and see the VYO on February first?
NAOMI: The theme is adventure and discovery. We're playing this really awesome piece called The Wreckers overture, and if you like Pirates of the Caribbean you'll love this piece! And we're also playing a piece that one of our very own musicians wrote which is super cool to listen to and to see that somebody our own age composed a whole piece. Please come, you'll love the concert.
HELEN: My thanks to VYO senior soloist Naomi Shpaner for speaking with me. Join Naomi and the Vermont Youth Orchestra on this musical adventure, Sunday, February 1st at 3:00 p.m. at the Flynn in Burlington. For more information and tickets, head to vyo.org
