The Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony has had a busy 60th anniversary season. Student musicians played alongside the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra last week in a side-by-side concert at the orchestra's Beethoven Festival.
We looked at our rosters and found four former youth symphony musicians among our staff: Government reporter Ashley Mizuo, Operations Manager Krystal Spear, Classical Pacific host Sharene Lum Taba, and Kanikapila Sunday host Louise King Lanzilotti.
Lanzilotti played the cello in the very first iteration of the youth symphony, and Spear was an oboist in the group in 2019. The Conversation's Maddie Bender brought all four of them into the studio to reminisce on their orchestra days.
This interview aired on The Conversation on March 18, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
