Dulcea Hu is a freshman violin player who won first place in the Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition, which allowed her to travel to New York and play in the winner’s recital in Carnegie Hall. This is so great as Dulcea did very. We interviewed her and get her perspective from this experience.

Q: What did you take away from this experience? What did you learn?

A: I learned to stop comparing myself to other people all the time because even if they are better or more skilled than me, I did well and that’s all that matters.

Q: How long have you enjoyed playing the violin? What made you want to start playing?

A: I started when I was around seven years old, and sometimes I didn’t enjoy it because it was a lot of work, but once I got a routine going, it got really fun.

Q: What are your hobbies and things you enjoy doing?

A: I like to listen to music, play the violin, draw and make art, and write.

Q: How did you join this program? What made you want to participate in it?

A: My violin teacher told me about it, and at first I didn’t want to do it because I felt like I wasn’t ready for it. Eventually, I realized that it would be a great opportunity, but I didn’t think I would win anything.

Q: How does it feel to win first place and be able to go to New York? Did you ever think you would get this far?

A: I didn’t expect any of this. I felt like I was going to get criticized, but it was a shock to find out that I won. At first I even thought they got the wrong person. Also, I had never gone to New York before, so I was very excited and it was a good experience.

Q: Playing in Carnegie Hall is very exciting, were you nervous to play in front of a lot of people.

A: I was extremely nervous and I couldn’t think that well and on stage I was .a lot stiffer than usual, and I had a hard time remembering what to do because I was so scared. It was still very fun to meet these people who are skilled and get feedback from them.

This is such a great accomplishment for Dulcea Hu, and we are all very astonished and impressed by her musical abilities. I know that going to New York and playing in Carnegie Hall was probably very nerve-wracking, and we are very poud of Dulcea. Many students at ACP are doing such amazing things like this, and we want to showcase them to the rest of the school because they are so great! Dulcea should feel very proud of herself because I know that we all are.