Local student pulls the strings to pursue musical dream at Yale next fall

“Yale stuck out because for one thing it has obviously great academics but it also has the best music program of any of the Ivy Leagues and it also has a lot of money for student funding, like financial aid. So the cost of attendance is very high initially but with financial assistance it works out to be quite low,” says Lorentzen.

Lorentzen discovered his love of music when he was four. His older brother played the violin and Lorentzen followed in his footsteps. However at the age of six he started playing the cello and never looked back.

“When I was growing up I kind of just imagined myself playing music for the rest of my life,” he says.

Lorentzen says he tried to emulate and found his inspiration from the late cellist Lynn Harrell.

“He has a very expressive and powerful sound. I try to emulate him when I play.”

Lorentzen has performed locally several times. He performed at last year’s Rose Bowl and has hosted charity concerts at St. Barnabas Church with his brother.

Lorentzen spent last weekend playing with the Calgary Civic Symphony at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. By winning a young artists competition Lorentzen was able to play the first movement of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with an orchestra behind him on stage in Calgary.

But now Lorentzen has his eyes set on an even bigger stage as he plans to try out to become a member of Yale’s Symphony Orchestra next fall.

“The creativity that playing music offers and especially playing music in a group, I really enjoy an orchestra or chamber group more than just playing solo,” he explains.

(Photo Courtesy Laec Lorentzen)

Lorentzen’s academic journey has been different from other students. He skipped Grade 9 and regularly missed a day of high school every week to travel to Calgary for music lessons.

Donna Mae Melle began teaching Lorentzen in her Grade 10 applied math program and quickly recognized he was a gifted student.

“His gift is not just about what he can do with it for himself, it’s about sharing it and I feel so inspired by that so I knew that when he wanted to do something he could do it,” says Melle.

“When his mom said ‘we are going to apply to these places in the United States, his brother is there, we want to do this again’ I jumped on board.” adds Melle.

“For the Ivy League schools it’s not just about marks. They want to calculate what level was this student at in this grade? in Grade 10? in Grade 11? in Grade 12? were they the top five? were they the top 10?” says Melle.

“They want to know about the profile of our school. What student competition we have so they can rank that,” adds Melle.

“Not only was she teaching me math at a fairly high level but also she had to fill out several reference letters and academic forums to help me get into college,” Lorentzen gratefully mentions.

Lorentzen says he’s excited to begin his new chapter at Yale. He has the opportunity to visit the campus during the school’s annual event to welcome new students called Bulldog Days.

“I got to tour the engineering campus and see a bunch of music groups I can potentially join next year so it’s really exciting to know what’s ahead.”

Looking forward, Lorentzen says he might pursue both a bachelor of arts and a masters of music and would like to find a career as an engineer, but for now he is focused on honing his musical skills.

by Brendan Miller

Local student pulls the strings to pursue musical dream at Yale next fall

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