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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Monday, December 26, 2011 · 46 Artscene Oakville Beaver ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER HITTING HIGH NOTES: Violinist Clarisse Schneider, 17, is a recent winner of two concerto competitions, one with Orchestra Toronto and the other with Symphony Hamilton. She also scored the opportunity to play a solo with both orchestras. Music is a way of life for young virtuoso By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF When Clarisse Schneider isn't busy with schoolwork, she's wowing audiences with her violin, playing in orchestral concerts and winning solo concerto competitions. And when the 17-year-old is not doing that, she is representing her peers as a student trustee at the Halton Catholic District School Board and as an executive on the Ontario Student Trustees' Association. She also squeezes in some time for hockey, playing with the Oakville Hornets. But no matter how busy she is, the St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Secondary School student intends to always be around music. "I will always make time for music no matter what program I'm in and no matter where I am," Schneider said. The young musician recently won two competitions, in different cities on the same day. "I went to Symphony Hamilton in the morning and Orchestra Toronto in the afternoon," she said. "I played the same piece. It was less difficult than you would think." At both contests she performed Henryk Wieniawski's Violin Concerto #2 2, which happens to be her favourite solo piece to perform. After winning, she was invited to perform with both the orchestras. She performed the solo at Orchestra Toronto's concert on Dec. 4, for which she received a $1,000 scholarship. A week later, she performed the solo piece with the Symphony Hamilton Orchestra in Burlington. "I was quite ecstatic to win those two," she said. "I felt like this is probably my last year of being around Toronto and around all these amazing orchestras before I go off to university. It was amazing to get to play with them." She also won Symphony Hamilton's junior competition several years ago. Despite her musical prowess, she's unsure of whether to pursue a career in music. "I know music is always going to be part of my life. I know that I will continue to take lessons, I'll find an orchestra, but I'm not sure if I'm going to study it solely as a major." Instead, she's considering going to university to study software engineering, saying she's always had an affinity for technology. She added, she's always been drawn to music and technology, which she said are similar. "It's more similar than you'd think because of all the technical requirements," she said. "Of course, music is a little bit beyond what we have in technology today. There's an expression we're capable of. But the music parts -- all of the different theory, harmony, the fifth-seconds, thirds, intervals, counting, time signatures -- that's all quite mathematical." Her favourite subject is math, but she admits it lacks the expression of music, which she loves. Music has always been a part of her life. Her mother majored in music and was a music teacher. "I had some family friends who played violin. After listening to them play -- they were a couple years older than me -- I decided I really wanted to play the violin," she said. "I couldn't have chosen better. Violin is perfect for me." She cannot sing, she said, but likes the violin for its vocal quality and the expression of which it is capable. Schneider studied music with the Suzuki Foundation and then the Royal Conservatory of Music. She was part of the Halton Youth Chamber Orchestra, then the Mississauga Youth Orchestra, until she recently switched to the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO). In Toronto, she realized how large the classical music world really is. The TSYO has a violin section of 32 players. "Once I joined the TSYO, I joined what you would call the big pond. I realized how small of a fish I really was in Oakville. It's a very small pond and we all know each other. When I got to Toronto, it was quite a large pond," she said. She has also done paid work, performing at weddings and at corporate events and conferences, performing with a fellow musician and friend, though these performances are not on a regular basis. Dominik Kurek can be reached at dkurek@ oakvillebeaver.com or followed on Twitter at @ DominikKurek.