Second installment in the Bright Young Things summer series, featuring graduating students who are pursuing careers in the performing or visual arts.
Two years ago, Louise Hung and her sister, Iris, flew to Kenya to volunteer with Me to We to build a classroom.
And the three-week experience changed the Coquitlam girls' lives forever - not just because they were helping a community in need but because it forced them to communicate with people who didn't know English. "I realized how important music is," she said. "We made connections."
It shouldn't have been a surprise given the Gleneagle secondary student is a natural performer. She has been taking piano lessons since four, shortly after her family emigrated from Taiwan.
Serious studies started in Grade 1 under Marjory Purdy, a Place des Arts' instructor who teaches Conservatory Canada, which Hung said has a more diverse repertoire than the usual Royal Conservatory of Canada program.
Since her first class 11 years ago, Hung said Purdy has been a major influence in her life, helping her to be more confident and sticking with projects until the end. "I consider her as part of my family now," Hung said.
The feeling is mutual. Over the past 80 classes a year, "for each and every one, she has given her best effort and I cannot recall her ever arriving unprepared," Purdy said. "She has always entered my studio with a smile and an eager attitude."
Hung has done well under her guidance, being awarded 10 Conservatory Canada medals of excellence for clinching the highest marks in B.C. for an exam: five for piano, three for theory and two for history. As well, Hung, 17, has earned the program's Lynda Rehder Kennedy medal of excellence for scoring the highest Grade 10 marks in Canada.
Currently, she is completing her associate performer's diploma.
Among her recent accolades is a $20,000 scholarship to attend the University of Victoria, where she's enrolled in the four-year bachelor of music stream. She hopes to complete her degree concurrently with a bachelor's of arts in history. "I like hearing about the voice of the people," she said, "but sometimes I think songs can say things words can't."
Hung comes right to the point when she talks about her peers, calling her generation "disconnected from reality with technology."
Instead, Hung prefers the human touch, be it through volunteering (she calls bingo at Amica and plays piano every month at a seniors' centre) or helping her high school's Global Issues club and jazz choir.
Her outlook can be paralleled to her favourite composers. "I like Chopin, even though he's technically difficult, but Beethoven has raw emotion. He moves you mentally and physically. I think we need more of that in life."
