Lily Yoshihara, 18, violin

Today we hear from Lily Yoshihara, a violinist from Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative and from Midwest Conservatory in Schaumburg, and a student of Taka Matsunaga and Bernardo Arias. Lily plays Brahms, Bach and Wieniawski; plus the Fantasy No. 1 of Japanese composer Ikuma Dan. Yoahn Jon Kwon plays piano. Lily Yoshihara has been studying the violin under the instruction of Taka Matsunaga and Bernardo Arias at the Midwest Conservatory of Music since the age of five. Achievements include being named a finalist for From the Top‘s Learning and Media Lab Fellowship, playing as Concertmaster for the 2025 ILMEA All-State Honors Orchestra, honorable mentions at the Musical Festival in Honor of Confucius and the DePaul Concerto Festival, and winning the Birch Creek Clampitt Concerto Competition in Door County, Wisconsin, with the opportunity to perform solo with the orchestra in 2024. Lily has been a member of the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013, where she performed at the Chicago International Music Festival and Los Angeles International Music Festival. Throughout the years, she has also participated in masterclasses under Robert Chen, Rachel Barton Pine, and Baird Dodge. In 2024, Lily joined the Chicago Music Pathways Initiative. As a member of CMPI, Lily was selected to participate in the Equity Arc Pathways Orchestra where she served as Co-Principal and performed alongside members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In the fall, Lily plans to pursue a Dual Degree in Violin Performance and Computer Science at the University of Michigan.