NMS Violinist Accepted Into

Top Norwalk Youth Symphony Orchestra

By Nancy K. Crevier

His eyes sparkle and so do the braces on the wide grin that splits his face when Austin Hubbert considers the question, “How important is music in your life?” The Newtown Middle School eighth grader hesitates only a moment before answering, “Very! It’s my main thing, right up there with academics. It’s fun. It takes time to get the hang of music, but when you get it, it’s a whole new realm of life.”

Austin has plenty of reasons to be excited about his involvement in the music world. The violinist was accepted this August into the Principal Orchestra of the Norwalk Youth Symphony Orchestra (NYSO), an honor usually reserved for students in the 11th and 12th grades, said his mother, Mary Lou Hubbert. It has been a thrill to watch her son’s musical talent develop over the years, she said, since he first laid a hand on a violin at age 4.

“He started when the Montessori School he was enrolled in while we were living in Illinois offered violin lessons. He opened up the case and it was love at first sight,” said Mrs Hubbert. “He hasn’t put down the violin since.”

From ages 5 to 10, when his family lived in Wisconsin, Austin took private violin lessons. Greg and Mary Lou Hubbert and their sons, Austin and Graham, now a sixth grade student at Reed Intermediate, moved to Newtown when Austin was in the fifth grade and since then he has taken advantage of the many musical offerings of the school district and the region.

“When we saw how excited Austin was about music, we made the commitment to provide access to what he needed. Fairfield County has been a gold mine for Austin,” said Mrs Hubbert.

While at Reed Intermediate School, Austin participated in the RIS Chamber Orchestra in fifth grade and the RIS Jazz Band, playing electric violin, in sixth grade. He has also taken part in the Fairfield County Strings Festival each year since moving to New England, playing in the honors orchestra. While a fifth grade student, Austin played with the Danbury Preparatory Orchestra and in 2006 he was accepted into the NYSO Philharmonia Orchestra, a full orchestra that serves as a stepping stone into the more demanding Concert and Principal Orchestras of the NYSO.

That same year, Austin auditioned for and was accepted into the Chamber Music Institute for Young Musicians in Darien. Last year, as a member of the NYSO Concert Orchestra, Austin served as the concert master, cueing the other players and tuning the orchestra. He also plays in the Newtown Middle School Chamber Orchestra.

“I wanted to be the concert master again for the Concert Orchestra,” said Austin, “and when I mentioned it to our conductor, Richard Brooks, he told me he didn’t think I’d be playing in the Concert Orchestra this year. He was the one who encouraged me to try out for the Principal Orchestra this summer.”

Austin thought that his performances of the Charles Deberiot Concerto #9 and the 2nd movement from Mozart’s G-major Concerto for the August audition went well, but he knew he was up against some stiff competition for a seat in the Principal Orchestra. More juniors and seniors than ever before tried out this summer.

“Even though I felt pretty confident, it was really still up in the air. The orchestra is about musical ability, but the NYSO is careful about putting younger kids in the Principal Orchestra,” said Austin.

“It’s pretty rare for an eighth grader to make it,” added his mother, and this year, Austin was one of two eighth grade students in the state who did so.

He is very happy to have been accepted into the most rigorous of the NYSO orchestras, said Austin, but added,  “I would have been happy in either the Concert or the Principal Orchestra. Wherever the auditioners put me would have been great, because that’s where I would have belonged.”

In addition to a weekly three-hour rehearsal every Saturday for NYSO, Austin also travels one to two times a week to New Haven where he takes lessons with Stephan Tieszen, a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City. Twice a month, his schedule also includes lessons with Chamber Music Institute artistic director Asya Meshberg for private lessons, and every day Austin devotes two to three hours at home to practicing the violin.

“I like playing around with the violin when I’m by myself practicing. When you unlock how to do something, for me, that is huge.”

“Austin is very ambitious,” said Ms Meshberg, who has taught Austin for several years. “He doesn’t mind working to improve himself and he takes direction well. He takes direction and he applies it, and that is how progress happens.”

It is a great achievement for Austin to have been accepted into the NYSO Principal Orchestra, Ms Meshberg said. “The player must be on a very high level of skill. Austin is a hard worker,” she said.

The full schedule might make it look like Austin’s life revolves around music, but that is not the case. He is an honor student at NMS and part of the GATES program for gifted students, and is already planning and getting underway with his cohorts for the annual GATES scarecrow Halloween competition later this month. He plays Parks and Rec basketball, plays tennis at Middlebury Tennis Club, and likes to golf. In the winter, he belongs to the NMS ski club.

“There’s always time to have fun,” said Austin, “but I get the work done first, and then it’s time for fun. It’s good to be busy.”

The Principal Orchestra began rehearsing September 20 for the first of three concerts they will play this year, as well as working on music for a Playathon to support local charities, and preparing for a performance at Tanglewood in Massachusetts next summer, said Austin.

“What’s nice is that Austin will really be challenged by the music this year in the orchestra,” said Mrs Hubbert. “It gives him something to work for,” she said.

Austin agreed that the music this year, including the Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein, is on a new level for him. “The conductor picks out some great songs that everyone likes. I’m playing more real classical music by real classical composers this year than I ever have before,” he said.

In an orchestra of this caliber, too, the director is far more demanding, he has learned. “Perfecting the music is hard and that’s what the director wants. We are asked to look at tonality, the phrasing, and we even stayed after rehearsal to watch a video of a performance to see how the players moved,” said Austin.

As Austin works on perfecting the music, his parents are working on how to stretch the life from his present violin. A handmade German instrument crafted in 2005 from maple and spruce, the Hubberts purchased it from violin restorer and crafter Luthier Ute Brinkman in Westport, after searching diligently for a deal. Mrs Hubbert is wondering now if upgrading the bow might buy them a little more time before Austin’s skills demand a big leap in instrument quality. “But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” she laughed.

Austin is looking forward to his first year with the NYSO Principal Orchestra.

“I like performing. When you’ve learned something, you want to share it with others,” he said. “I think I’ll have a lot of fun this year.”