New Column: People You Should Know
By Robert Whitmire
Lucas Chan, son of David and Agnes Chan of Stevens Point, first picked up the violin at a very young age and his musical talents through the years have continued to impress.
The SPASH junior was recently selected from among 1,500 auditions to perform with the 2013 Wisconsin School Music Association’s Music Project performances at the annual Wisconsin State Music Conference.
Chan was also the winner of the Betty Frost Jenkins Young Artist Concerto Competition and will perform the first movement from Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole” with the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra(CWSO) December 7th and 8th at the Sentry Theatre.
But that’s not all.
Lucas is a member of the SPASH Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, Plays the Viola with the CWSO and is the Concertmaster of the Central State Chamber Orchestra, and plays first violin with the Aurora String Quartet. He has also performed with the Wisconsin Middle School Honors Orchestra.
“I started playing the Violin in Singapore before we moved here when I was four years old,” Chan said. “When we moved to Stevens Point I started with the Aber Suzuki Center program and UWSP professor of Violin, David Becker.”
“Lucas was my student for ten years,” said Becker. “When he started studying with me he was in one of the early Suzuki violin books and by the time he finished with me and started studying with Oscar Solar, another violin teacher in our Aber Suzuki Center program, Lucas had learned and memorized every piece in all ten books of the Suzuki violin repertoire and was playing advanced violin repertoire beyond the Suzuki books. I also introduced him to the viola and he became equally proficient on both violin and viola.”
Chan offers the following advice to other aspiring musicians:
“Knowing how to practice is the key to success. Practicing isn’t the most fun, but you have to do it. When I was younger I didn’t know how to practice- I’d play the whole piece a couple times. Now I know how to focus on the spots that need work. Set goals and keep going to concerts. Seeing other people play can be an inspirational and learning experience.”
When Lucas isn’t performing he enjoys playing video games and watching football and sports. His favorite classes at school are chemistry and Holocaust history, and he’s a fan of The Dark Knight movies and pizza. Lucas says he’s a very personable young man and likes meeting and talking to new people.
Like many performers, Chan has a pre-concert routine he uses before stepping on stage.
“I have a playlist that I listen to,” he said. “The music actually calms be down but also gets me pumped up before performing.”
Lucas is looking forward to a degree in music, perhaps from Madison or a music conservatory such as Julliard.
“Lucas is unquestionably one of the most gifted young musician I have had the pleasure of working with throughout my forty-plus years of teaching the violin,” said Becker. “If he works very hard he could have a bright future as a professional musician.”
Lucas Chan is a person you should know.