Beethoven Waldstein Sonata op. 53 Part 1 by Rachel Breen (12 year old)

Rachel Breen, piano, at age 12 playing Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata op. 53 in C major.
Second Movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBMzUeVn56g
Third Movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUpAjEvXL0&feature=related

Rachel Breen, 14 years old, is a scholarship student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and studies with Sr. Sharon Mann. Until age 10, she was self-taught. She is the first prize winner of the Music Teachers' Association of California's annual solo competition, as the youngest competitor, and as a result, was asked to perform recitals in Los Angeles. She is the first prize winner of the Etude Club's Scholarship competition with competitors of all instruments, ranging in age from 14- 18. She is the first prize winner of the United States Open Music Competition, and was chosen as the all-around winner from all age categories in the winners' concert. She is the first prize winner of the Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and as a result, performed the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto with them this past season. She also performed this concerto with the Oakland Civic Orchestra, and is a winner of the Diablo Valley Symphony competition and the Oakland East Bay Symphony Concerto Competition. She was the third prize winner of the International Russian Music Piano Competition, and as the youngest competitor here as well, she was awarded a special jury prize. She was the second prize at the San Francisco Chopin Competition, the second prize at the Pacific Musical Society Competition, and the second prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. At just 13 years old, she was invited without application to the Oberlin Summer Music Festival. She was asked to perform for concerts for both the Chopin and Liszt International Societies. She was a featured performed six times in the Junior Bach festival, and has performed many times for the opening and publication of Katie Hafner's A Romance on Three Legs, a book concerning Glenn Gould. She has performed in solo locations including the Bankhead Theatre, the Fairmont Hotel, The Cubberly Theatre, Le Petit Trianon Theatre, The Caroline Hume Concert Hall, The Berkeley Piano Club, The Hillside Club, The Peabody Institute of Music (in Baltimore, Maryland), the Crowden School of Music, The Sol Joseph Recital Hall, Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, St. John's Presbyterian Church, U.C. Berkeley's Morrison Hall, and many other locations. She also performs outreach concerts regularly at nursing homes and schools around the bay. She has been featured in articles in the Montclarion and the San Francisco Classical Voice, and has received acclaim from International Artists including Antonio Pompa-Baldi, William Wellborn, Laurette Golberg, and Leon Fleisher. She is a member of the Cerberus Piano Trio. Aside from piano, she is a student at Miramonte High School, and this year, received the first prize on the National Latin Exam, and Third Prize in the National French Exam. She hopes to pursue a career as a performing and recording artist. This video was made two years back in a live performance, so it's not perfect. Rachel fell in love with Horowitz's recorind of this piece when she was nine, and decided to learn all the movements soon after. Rachel would like you to know that she no longer makes faces while performing, and that in order to enjoy the music, you might rather watch her hands :)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• piano
• Rachel Breen
• age 12
• Waldstein
• part 1
• movement 1
• Beethoven
• op. 53
• C major
• Sharon Mann
• prodigy
• classical
• bach
• concerto
• orchestra
• symphony
• minor
• plays
• violin
• mozart
• prelude
• allegro
• falls
• cello
• new
• park
• johann
• horowitz
• gilels
• Ludwig
• Van
• opus
• San
• Francisco
• Conservatory
• of
• Music
• Orinda

[712Stephen]

I would like to hear a great range of dynamics, but your accuracy and articulation are wondering.

[plvsbpb]

@712Stephen thanks, I like criticism better that complements! And you're right. (not the accuracy though!)

[neojuanan]

You are a realy great player!!! Congratulations!!!

[Schumann17]

This is the best performance of the Waldstein I've ever heard. You make it come alive!

[MsMymichael]

Impressive

Michael the Greek Composer

[blueyoyi]

"PERFECT" !!!!

[unpodimusica1]

Stunning playing. Keep up the good work, you have a great gift!

[712Stephen]

wonderful*

[chobeethaninov]

You are a very talented pianist. Your technique is spotless and clear, and you also play with great beauty. Keep up all the great work!

[videoposter1410]

very hugo like!!! nice facial expressions.......LOL nothing wrong with being a hugo sometimes...right?

record the rondo for my mom.....plz? she's out of motivation to practice. :(

christine