Ava Lamb of Wildwood has earned a spot in the St. Louis Civic Orchestra, a rare achievement for a high school student.
Orchestra administrator Jeanne Lambson said the 55-member orchestra ranges from 17-year-old Ava to players in their 80s.
“It’s extremely rare for a high schooler to be a regular member of the orchestra,” she said. “I think it’s probably because of the time commitment, especially for somebody in high school, and the level of playability. You’ve got to be pretty good to be able to hold your own.”
Lambson said the St. Louis Civic Orchestra is a volunteer group of amateur musicians who are dedicated to playing at the high caliber of professionals.
Lambson said all ages are welcomed into the group, but it is unusual for a teenager to be accepted.
“We’re thrilled that Ava has agreed to play with us because she is a great asset to our second violin section,” she said. “I think it’s very admirable that she is pushing herself to play this level of music. It’s just going to do nothing but make her better and better.”
Ava, a senior at Eureka High School, said being the youngest in the group is not a distraction for her.
“When you actually get into the orchestra, you sort of forget what everyone’s ages and backgrounds are, because everyone is just there to work together as a group toward the common goal of making music,” she said.
Ava’s mother, Elisabeth Lamb, 45, said she is proud of how hard Ava works and practices.
“I have never had to get on her to practice violin,” she said. “My mom always had to get after me to practice piano, but (Ava) just does it on her own. It’s something that she loves to do.”
Elisabeth said she was not at all shocked when her daughter received the email about joining the Civic Orchestra.
“She tends to get what she goes after. She is extremely self-motivated,” Elisabeth said. “She has always been very mature for her age.”
Mary White, who was Ava’s first violin teacher at Pond Elementary School and now her orchestra teacher at Eureka High School, said she’s seen similar qualities in her student.
“She is super-motivated, amazingly naturally talented and one of the most hard-working students I’ve ever had,” she said. “She sought this opportunity on her own and did all the preparation on her own.”
Nevertheless, Ava said she was shocked when she received the acceptance email.
“I really was not expecting to get in. It’s always really a nice feeling to be a part of an orchestra and especially an orchestra that plays higher-level music,” she said.
White said Ava does not take any private lessons.
“For her to be achieving at the level she is without the help of a private tutor is really miraculous,” she said
Ava said with only three practices with the orchestra so far, she has learned a lot.
“It sort of pushed me out of my comfort zone, to work more with key signatures and rhythms,” she said.
White said several years ago, Eureka High student Cloe Jones was part of the Civic Orchestra. She said Jones was her only other student accepted into the group.
Ava said the orchestra’s first of five performances will be 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Henry Givens Administration Building Auditorium on the Harris-Stowe State University campus, 3026 Laclede Ave., in St. Louis.
She said she is looking forward to a Dec. 3 concert at Kirkwood First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Adams Ave.
“We’re going to be playing a piece by Florence Price, who is so inspirational, as a Black female composer working in the 1900s,” she said. “Just to be able to have a different sort of perspective than your typical sort of old dead dude conductor.”
For more information on all five concerts, visit stlco.org.
Audition process
Ava said she first heard of the St. Louis Civic Orchestra on YouTube.
“It said that anyone was free to audition, so I figured I would take a look at the music, I’ll practice it, and I’m going to try to audition so I can be a part of this orchestra that I really like,” she said.
Ava said she auditioned in late August and received an email letting her know she was in the next day.
“It was on the bus ride home when I got the email,” she said. “It took everything like in me not to like stand up and shout, ‘Yes!’”
Her audition included several pieces, including the Overture to Oberon, Overture to the Nutcracker, Mozart’s Third Symphony and Beethoven’s Third Symphony.
“The Mozart one was by far the most difficult, because Mozart writes in keys that are so tricky for string players to perform; also it’s so fast,” she said.
Ava said she rehearses with the orchestra from 7:30-9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
White said Ava is also concert master for the high school orchestra and is a leader of the pit orchestra during the high school’s musical productions.
Ava said she is also part of St. Louis All Suburban Orchestra, which is a group made up of St. Louis-area high school students.
Ava said she also is planning to audition in December for the Missouri State Orchestra, which is made up of high school students across the state.
Learning to play
Ava said she was given the option in third grade to either learn to play violin or take a computer class.
“Once I started playing, I realized that I had a desire to play and get better at music that I had just never had before, because I’d never tried it before,” she said. “Before then, I only had really limited experience with music. I played guitar for a little bit, but nothing ever serious.”
In fourth grade, she said, she was given the opportunity to switch instruments, but said she had fallen in love with the violin.
“What I really liked about the violin was just that it had such a great range of emotions that I could express,” she said. “I’ve heard (a violin) played to be so beautiful and light in the way that a lot of people think of with the violin, but also, it’s able to produce just these very heavy, dark emotional sounds. I just like the possibilities with the violin. It really intrigued me.”
Ava said she likes to play different music to match her mood.
“If I’m feeling happy, I think Mendelssohn and Beethoven are always really good,” she said. “If it’s really not my day, I like to go back and play the easier pieces I have played.”
Ava said she plays at least one or two hours every day.
Lifelong musician
Ava does not actually own a violin, as she is borrowing hers from a friend.
“I’m hoping with a little bit of the money I have saved up, hopefully at the end of the year I can get myself an instrument,” she said.
Ava said she does not have any set college plans yet but hopes to major in philosophy and minor in music performance. She hopes to go on to law school one day.
“Even though I want to do law as a profession and philosophy will lead into law school, I just can’t imagine ever not wanting to play violin when it’s something that has brought so much joy into my life,” she said. “It would make me so sad to suddenly quit just because I was not majoring in it.