Brandon Du
Instrument: Violin
Biography:
Brandon Du, 17, is currently a senior at Centennial High School, in Ellicott City, Maryland. He began studying violin at the age of four with Mr. and Mrs. Briskin. Brandon joined the Baltimore Symphony Youth Concert Orchestra when he was in 3rd grade and was invited to join the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra when he was in 5th grade and soon served as concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra since then.
Brandon’s first appearance with orchestra was with Baltimore Symphony Youth Concert Orchestra after he won the concerto competition in 2014. Since then, he has performed as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, National Chamber Ensemble, Columbia Orchestra, Ottawa Chamber Symphony and Frederick Symphony Orchestra. Brandon was also invited to perform Lalo Symphonie Espagnole with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in the Midweek Education Concert series in the spring of 2015, and the “Winter” concerto from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” in December 2019.
Brandon has won numerous competitions in the local Washington DC area, including the first prize of Columbia Orchestra Young Artist Competition for the Senior Division in 2019 and Junior Division in 2017, and the Grand Prize of Frederick Symphony Orchestra – Young Artist Competition in 2019. He won the first place of the advance violin category and women’s committee award in the 47th Annual Joseph and Goldie Feder Memorial String Competition in 2018 and was the 1st prize winner of The FMMC High School Competition for Strings in 2018; the winner of the National Chamber Ensemble Outstanding Young Artist Achievement Award in 2016; 1st prize winner of the VIVO International Music Competition (Group C: Ages 12-14), 2016-2017, and the 2nd prize winner of Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition (fall selection, group B. 11-14 years of age) in 2016.
Most recently, Brandon was named one of the semi-final alternates of Stulberg International String Competition and was accepted by the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) for the 2020 season. In 2019, Brandon participated in the 3rd Zhuhai international Mozart competition for Young Musicians as one of the quarter-finalists of Violin group B. Brandon attended the Brian Lewis Young Artists Program in 2017 summer, as one of the twelve young violinists, and studied with Dr. Brian Lewis, Dr. Simon James, Dr. James Stern and Dr. Bryan Hall. He also attended the Summit Music Festival in 2018 summer and studied with Mr. Victor Danchenko and Mr. Herbert Greenberg.
