SAN ANTONIO — A Boerne High School graduate performed well enough to receive one of the 2024-2025 Colburn-Pledge Music Scholarships, which provide college tuition assistance to young string instrument players who are preparing for careers in classical music.
Musical Bridges Around the World, a multicultural arts and social impact nonprofit based in San Antonio, announced Samuel Igbo, a violinist attending Emory University, was one of five winners of the scholarships.
Igbo is a 2024 Boerne High School graduate and current member of the NEC Preparatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.
Igbo is self-taught, having first viewed a Youtube tutorial while in sixth grade that immediately commanded his attention.
“I knew nothing about classical music before I began,” Igbo said, as quoted on the Equity Arc web page. “I was on YouTube one day, scrolling through my recommendations, and I came across a video of Itzhak Perlman playing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.
“I watched that performance from start to finish like three times,” he said. “I was so enraptured by his sound, by his stage presence, by how the audience was reacting. I was like, ‘I want to do this too.’” Since his unconventional but promising start, Igbo has excelled and accelerated up the ranks. He participated in the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America and the Sphinx Performance Academy in collaboration with the Curtis Institute of Music.
He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra 2 in 2021; served as concertmaster of the Texas Music Educators Association All-Region Orchestra; and was a member of the TMEA All-State Orchestra.
He was a member of the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio Philharmonic and has performed for NPR’s “From the Top,” a national show celebrating young classical musicians.
Igbo’s goal is to serve others in the music field, especially underserved and underrepresented communities that lack music education and access.
“Despite the many battles with racism and ignorance in the classical music scene that I did not foresee starting out, I cannot see my life without music and my violin,” he said.
Colburn-Pledge Music Scholarship applicants were evaluated by two professional string player judges, and five were selected to support their professional music education. Specifically, the scholarship supports students of classical violin, viola, cello and double bass.
Awards are limited to the amount of the annual tuition charged by the school, college, university, or music teacher of the recipient’s choice, up to $3,000 per recipient. As of 2021, 133 scholarships totaling more than $99,000 had been awarded to 72 students.
Other recipients include attendees of the University of Michigan, the Eastman School of Music, HEMU-Valais in Switzerland and Northwestern University.
Comment
Comments