On Deck with Young Musicians
As of March 2025, On Deck with Young Musicians is no longer producing new episodes. This program featured inspirational interviews that celebrate and showcase the incredibly talented young musicians who live and perform in the Pacific Northwest: the young people who are shaping the future of classical music. The archive below features episodes hosted by Christa Wessel, Adam Eccleston, Raúl Gómez-Rojas, Jahlysa Azaret, and Lisa Lipton.
February 8, 2020
On Deck with Dina Biggs
Dina Biggs is a 14-year old clarinetist, and a freshman at West Linn High School. Though Dina has only been playing clarinet for 3 years she is already quite good: she is the only freshman in her school’s Symphonic Band, and she plays first clarinet in the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Fun fact: her first clarinet …
February 1, 2020
On Deck with Kaitlyn Brown
Kaitlyn Brown is a 16-year old junior at Tualatin High School, and she plays percussion in many ensembles, both at school at with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. As a percussionist, she loves having the opportunity to play “weird” instruments (think: brake drum!), but her favorite percussion instrument is tympani, because it makes her feel like …
January 11, 2020
On Deck with Ethan Tseng
Ethan Tseng is a 15-year old sophomore at Oregon Episcopal School (and cellist with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony) who finds himself equally devoted to both cello and golf. He has won countless competitions in both. In this episode of “On Deck” we’ll examine how those two passions complement each other.
December 21, 2019
On Deck with Fiona Dubay
17-year old Fiona Dubay comes from a very musical family. She herself sings (with two choirs within the Pacific Youth Choir organization) AND plays viola (in two ensembles with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony). As passionate as she is about music -and music education- she is equally passionate about the environment, and hopes to pursue a …
December 14, 2019
On Deck with AJ Ah-Yek
Born in Samoa, AJ Ah-Yek is now a 17-year old senior at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Washington. In addition to playing in both his high school’s jazz and concert bands, he is also a member of the varsity football team. That’s a lot to juggle… but on top of it all, he is …
November 23, 2019
On Deck with Jessica Mason
Jessica Mason is a 17-year old senior at Franklin High School who plays a multitude of instruments: violin, cello, piano, just to name a few… but her favorite is trumpet. She plays in two ensembles with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and several other community groups as well. There is nothing she’d rather be doing than …
November 2, 2019
On Deck with Amir Avsker
Israeli-born Amir Avsker plays piano, violin & French horn, but he identifies most as a composer. At just 12-years old, this 7th grader already has 63 compositions to his name. In this episode of “On Deck” we’ll learn whose music serves as Amir’s biggest inspiration.
October 19, 2019
On Deck with Abbie Schipper
Abbie Schipper is a 17-year old senior at St. Mary’s Academy. She is a soprano and sings in four different choirs (including three choirs within the Pacific Youth Choir organization). Music is a huge part of her life, and she recently began hearing it more clearly: after experiencing ‘high frequency hearing loss’ for more than …
October 12, 2019
On Deck with Eric Acosta Medina
Eric Acosta-Medina is a 14-year old trombonist who got his start in music through Bravo Youth Orchestras (an organization which provides intensive orchestral instruction to under-served youth in schools throughout Portland). Since then, Eric has gone on to some pretty great things: he was accepted this summer into the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) …
September 28, 2019
On Deck with Daniel Au
Daniel Au is an 18-year old “bari-tenor” who is just discovering a passion for opera. He loves performing, and this week “On Deck with Young Musicians,” Daniel tells us about some of his performance failures – and the lessons he has learned from making mistakes.
