This summer, Jaiden Lee ’26 traveled across Europe to showcase his musical skills as a cellist. Along with other members of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO) – an orchestra group that includes 120 young musicians aged 12 to 21 – Jaiden and his brother Brian ’24 performed in some of the continent’s most famous concert halls, such as the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein in Vienna. This was Jaiden’s second international trip with the BPYO after traveling with the group to South Africa last year.
In almost every performance, over 2,000 listeners attended sold-out BPYO concert halls. All concerts additionally received a standing ovation at the end of the performance. Jaiden noted that, by the final few notes of the last two concerts, “everyone in the orchestra was in tears,” including his brother Brian Lee ’24 – an associate principal cellist. The BPYO played classical works throughout their tours, including famous pieces like The Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler, the Schumann Cello Concerto, Op.129, and the Elgar Enigma Variations. Throughout the entire international trip, Jaiden played alongside renowned cellist Zlatomir Fung, winner of the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition and youngest-ever professor at the Juilliard School of Music.
Looking back on the experience, Jaiden remarked, “It was an awesome opportunity to play the music we had been rehearsing for hours and months on end on the greatest stages in the world [as] Europe hosts a lot of the most historically significant music halls, as well as being the birthplace of a majority of the most famous composers of all time.” Jaiden looks to continue playing the cello at Belmont Hill and performing in the school orchestra and students can look forward to hearing him play on campus at orchestra performances and at the fall and spring coffeehouses.
Indresh Chandel 