A love for music

Andrew Wainer

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Helen Wong remembers listening to her father’s CD

collection as a child.

As a recent immigrant, her father worked six or seven days a week to

support the family. He came home late at night and put on classical music

to unwind.

Many of Wong’s family memories are colored by music.

“My dad would make me tapes of classical music that I listened to when I

slept,” Wong said.

Her mother, however, was partial to traditional Chinese music.

Now a music major at college, Wong absorbed her father’s love of

classical melody and has become a successful performer. She was awarded a

partial scholarship in November to participate in next summer’s

prestigious Rome Festival in Italy.

Wong, who lives in Huntington Beach, will play clarinet with 1,000 other

musicians at various courtyards in the historic center of the Italian

capital.

Selected by a national competition to perform at the festival, the

artists have come from all 50 states, more than 20 countries and every

socioeconomic level.

Wong and her colleagues will be given the opportunity to hone their

performing skills under the tutelage of internationally renown teachers

and coaches.

The program aims to show students how professional musicians live, work

and perform. The musicians who attend the festival also will perform in a

series of pubic concerts for Roman music lovers.

The weight and importance of the program has not been lost on Wong.

“I feel overwhelmed,” Wong said. “I didn’t expect to be chosen.”

Wong said she applied after seeing an advertisement for the festival

hanging on a wall at school.

Alumni of the festival have gone on to play in some of the world’s most

famous orchestras and opera companies, including the the New York

Philharmonic and the Berlin Radio Symphony.

And Wong’s family and friends are cheering her along.

“My best friend is making me write her a postcard every day,” Wong said.

Although they’re proud and excited for her, Wong said her parents worry

about how she will pay for her stay in Europe. The three-week program is

not cheap, it costs about $2,700.

Wong was awarded a $1,600 scholarship by the institute, but a $1,100 gap

remains. She has been baby-sitting part time, hoping to come up with the

remainder of the money she needs.