- My name is Ian Gu.

I go to Phillips Academy Andover, and I play the cello.

(pensive cello music) I played the "Prelude" from Bach's 5 Cello Suite, and this piece, I would describe it as organ playing.

It has a slow introduction where there's a bunch of chords, and the sound just fills up the room.

(pensive cello music continues) I imagine playing this piece in a large cathedral, which I one day hope to have the experience of.

You really get to explore the deeper range of the cello in this introduction.

There is a fugue, a faster section, which is in three eight, and you get to hear the interplay of the different voices in the fugue.

The listener is put into a trance, until the powerful buildup at the end.

(pensive cello music continues) I think the most challenging part of learning this piece was making sure that each note sounds the way I want it to sound, and the phrasing was also a little bit difficult to figure out, but when I play, I have a good idea of the phrasing.

The reason why I chose this piece was because I originally listened to this Prelude a lot, and I really liked the introduction, and so I talked to my private teacher about it, and that's how we started to work on this piece.

(pensive cello music continues) I started playing the cello back in fourth grade, and it was one of the first instruments that I tried at my school.

I immediately fell in love with its ability to sing and its resemblance to the human voice.

I also really liked the low C-string and how it could produce such a warm and deep sound.

(pensive cello music continues) Music has always been a way for me to express my emotions that sometimes feel too complicated to communicate through words, and so in college and beyond, I hope to carry music with me as a emotional outlet so that I could have it with me for the rest of my life.

(pensive cello music continues) I was nominated by my private music teacher, Mark Churchill, for this opportunity, and I feel like I've grown a lot as a musician under him.

I have been exposed to tons of new musical ideas and some of his lessons I carry with me to other parts of my life.

(pensive cello music continues) I would like to thank my conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Mr.

Benjamin Zander, for giving me the inspiration of the idea about how music can be so powerful in uniting our world.

And lastly, I would like to thank both of my parents for attending all of my performances and driving from here to Boston every weekend to make sure that I'm able to fully participate in the musical opportunities there.

(pensive cello music continues)