Elise Shen
Finely Tuned
When Elise Shen was 4 years old, she found her love at the Vandalia Gathering in Charleston. She ventured into the "Please Pick up the Instruments" tent that would define the next nine years of her life. Under the tent, were various traditional West Virginia instruments. "I picked up the violin and fiddled with it," says Elise. "I knew then that the violin was the one I would treasure."
Elise defies her age in many ways. Articulate, focused and down to earth beyond her 13 years, her smile reveals a sweet teenager who knows what she's all about. She is the assistant concertmaster of the West Virginia Youth Symphony, a group she's devoted her talents to since the second grade.
"I like the Youth Symphony because it is cooperative group work and it challenges me to work with others," says Elise. "My mom says she can tell if I'm happy or sad through my music; it's just another way for me to express myself that isn't verbal."
Fourteen hours of her week are spent playing the violin, in addition to her activities at Bible Center Church and John Adams Middle School's Math Counts and Lego Robotics clubs. She also maintains a 4.0 grade point average. Elise and her older sister Erica, an avid pianist, regularly perform duets for the Sunday services at Crossroads, a homeless men's shelter.
As a small child Elise would wake up to "Adventures in Good Music" on National Public Radio every morning. At night she would go to sleep listening to some peaceful piece, she explains. "I feel music is one thing that really made the girls understand themselves," says their mother, Chen-Fen. "It's right, then and there. It doesn't matter what they become-I would like them to be able to play in church and for themselves."
Elise made her professional debut in 2004 with the River Cities Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Turizziani. In 2005 she finished touring with The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Grant Cooper. She has performed as a soloist with the River City Orchestra, Seneca Chamber Orchestra and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Though accomplished, talented and driven, Elise remains humble. She hopes to be a doctor when she grows up, but she'll always come home to her violin.
