This column has followed the activities of two remarkable San Francisco child prodigies, pianist Audrey Vardanega and cellist Nathan Chan from the time of their early teens. Now they are studying in New York: Vardanega is a sophomore, majoring in political sciene at Columbia University while continuing with piano lessons.
Chan, also at Columbia, is a senior in the Juilliard School Exchange program and studies with Richard Aaron. He recently won the Juilliard Cello Concerto Competition, playing Strauss' Don Quixote under Leonard Slatkin, and is featured in a documentary film called Nathan Chan: Breaking the Wall.
At Friday's Midsummer Mozart concert, conducted by George Cleve and with Vardanega in the audience, watching, Seymour Lipkin, her teacher at Juilliard perform, I remembered when Cleve told me about how he found Vardanega. She was "this Italian-Chinese pianist from Oakland, looking about 14, with an astounding natural feeling for Brahms — an ‘old soul’ playing.”
Vardanega was actually only 13 then, but she went on to play violin with the San Francisco Youth Orchestra, compose, and pursue piano studies, soloing with Midsummer Mozart in a piece performed by the a teenage student of the young Mozart at its 1784 premiere.
Incidentally, Vardanega's middle name is "Jm." Being a name enthusiast, I just had to ask, and was then provided full — if still puzzling — explanation: "My mom had the brilliant idea of making my middle name a combination of the first letters of both of my grandmothers' names, so Jiao and Mary, therefore Jm. On the bright side, it's a conversation starter." No explanation for the lowercase 'm.'
But to business: Vardanega and Chan are celebrating their summertime homecoming by giving a concert in Old First at 4 p.m. Aug. 17; the program includes the Brahms Cello Sonata F Major, Beethoven's Magic Flute Variations, and selected solo works for both instruments.