Word: castellis
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...Christina Castelli '00 is not your typical young musician. Although she has been playing since the age of three, and is having her first commercial recording released at the age of 21, she exhibits none of the qualities usually associated with the young and the talented. Throughout the interview, she maintainws a refreshing outlook, describing her gratitude to her parents, her love for music, her hatred for competition and her desire to maintain her identity as a person outside of her musical life...
...Unlike the stereotypical stage parents who push their children into performance, Castelli says, her mother and father "always left it up to me. If I wanted to quit the next day, I could, which I think is why I got as far as I did. Because if I had been pushed, I would have resisted...
...Harvard chemistry concentrator (having left Oberlin's notoriously difficult double-degree program, where she studied biochemistry and music performance, before her junior year), Castelli feels free to follow her passions. "My parents don't really care what I do in life. Whatever I do, they say just do the best you can at it. Whether it's chemistry, whether it's music, whether it's being a street musician, it's up to me. That's allowed me the freedom to be able to come to Harvard and study academics...
...Isaac Stern, the great violinist, has recently become an important guiding force in Castelli's life. Although he is notorious for crushing the dreams of hopeful young musicians, she says that he has been "nothing but supportive and kind" to her. "He strongly believes that I will have a solo career; he's not concerned about that. What he's concerned about is where to go from here. Once I graduate from here, what happens next...
...while Castelli may be an extraordinary talent, there is far more to her personality than a simple desire to perform. "I'd get bored if all I had to talk about was music," she says. "There's much more to life than just music, and I know that. I'm a person before I'm a musician...