PASADENA—The Caltech-Occidental Symphony Orchestra will feature Caltech freshman Candace Chang as soloist at 8:00 p.m. on March 8 at Occidental College's Thorne Hall. The program features Charles Ives's Variations on "America," Niccolò Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, featuring violinist Chang, and Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43. The concert will be repeated on Sunday, March 9, at 3:30 p.m. at Caltech's Ramo Auditorium.
Candace Chang is one of two winners of this year's Caltech-Occidental student concerto competition. She began studying the violin at the age of three, and made her debut performing with the Suzuki Showcase Orchestra at age eight. A first-place winner in several concerto competitions, she has soloed with the Pacific Symphony, the Japan American Symphony, the Rio Hondo Symphony, the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony, the Bellflower Symphony, and the Marina del Rey–Westchester Symphony.
Chang is a National Merit Scholar winner, and has also received scholarships from the Young Musicians Foundation, Arts Recognition and Talent Search, the Colburn School, Tuesday Musicale, Hennessy X.O., Robert Cauer, and the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Association. She has performed in numerous master classes, including those held by internationally renowned artists Pinchas Zukerman and Cho-Liang Lin, along with Martin Chalifour and Alexander Treger of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Chang is from La Cañada Flintridge.
The Caltech-Occidental Symphony is a college-community orchestra composed of players from the California Institute of Technology, Occidental College, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and members of their surrounding communities. The orchestra performs four concerts annually.