8
BEHIND THE SCENES
MAY 11�18, 2022
FROM THE
COVER
Two afternoons of music
Performances by
Portland Youth
Philharmonic and
pianist Llewellyn
Sanchez-Werner set
for May 15 and 16
By Lisa Britton
Go! Magazine
P
ENDLETON — Llewellyn
Sanchez-Werner credits his
mother with inspiring his love of
the arts.
“My mom exposed me to so
many diff erent forms of art,” he
said.
Growing up in Southern
California, he attended concerts,
toured museums and danced to
Frank Sinatra.
But he loved piano the most,
and yearned to play.
The only obstacle was his age.
“No one wanted to teach a
2-year-old,” he said with a laugh.
So his mom signed herself
up for piano lessons. And after
a couple weeks, he was the one
taking the lessons.
He’d found his passion.
“That was how I wanted to
contribute to the world,” he said.
Now 25, Sanchez-Werner
has a bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from Juilliard (he en-
tered those programs at ages 14
and 18) and received an Artist
Diploma from the Yale School of
Music. Living in New York City, he
has played near and far — Am-
sterdam, Abu Dhabi, Rwanda,
Kenya, the Kennedy Center and
the White House, to name a few.
And now, as performing
spaces are opening again fol-
lowing pandemic closures, he’s
even more convinced of the
universal value of music — and
his responsibility to use his gift.
“A musician can use music to
cross barriers and build bridges
in a world that needs a lot of
healing,” he said. “Anybody can
hear music and dance to it, sing
to it, enjoy it.”
PENDLETON
PERFORMANCES
This month Sanchez-Werner,
a Portland Piano International
Rising Star, joins the Portland
Youth Philharmonic’s cham-
ber orchestra, Camerata PYP,
conducted by Musical Director
David Hattner, for an orchestral
performance at 3 p.m. Sunday,
May 15, at Vert Auditorium, 480
SW Dorion Ave. Tickets are
$15 adults, $12 seniors and $5
students. Purchase tickets at
portlandyouthphil.org/concerts.
The program features works
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(Piano Concerto in C minor, KV
491), Felix Mendelssohn (The
Hebrides, Op. 26) and Lou-
ise Farrenc (Symphony No. 3,
Op. 36).
“Camerata PYP will be pre-
senting a program of both well-
loved and unknown works for its
fi rst trip to Pendleton,” Hattner
said. “Mendelssohn’s Hebrides
Overture is a work of such inspi-
ration that Johannes Brahms, a
later German composer, sug-
gested he would trade four of
his symphonies to have written it
himself.”
For the Mozart piece,
Sanchez-Werner will write and
Chris McGuire/Contributed photo
Pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner plays with the Portland Youth Philharmonic
Orchestra Sunday, May 15, at Vert Auditorium, then performs a solo recital
Monday, May 16, at Pendleton Center for the Arts.
perform his own cadenzas.
“I’m putting my own stamp on
the piece,” he said.
On Monday, May 16, Sanchez-
Werner will present a solo piano
performance at 4:30 p.m. at
Pendleton Center for the Arts,
214 N. Main St. Attendance is
free but space is limited. Reserve
a seat at pendletonarts.org or by
calling 541-278-9201.
He said the solo concert will
feature a wide variety of music
and styles from numerous com-
posers, including Igor Stravinsky,
Frédéric Chopin and Carlos
Chávez.
“We’ll go to diff erent conti-
nents and diff erent time peri-
ods,” Sanchez-Werner said.