Wayland Youth Musicians to Perform in Boston Sunday

Stephanie Steltzer, Mingle Li and Tamara Lord are years apart in terms of schooling, but they share a skill for the same instrument and the opportunity to perform with professional musicians in Boston this weekend. 

Steltzer, a sophomore at ; Li a third-grader at ; and Lord, a seventh-grader at are all marimba players. They are also all students of at The Rivers School Conservatory in Weston. 

On Feb. 12, 10 of Tenney’s students, including these three from Wayland, will join professional contemporary music group Boston Musica Viva for the 19th Annual Family Concert at Tsai Performance Center in Boston.

It will be Li’s first experience playing with the group, and he said he is a bit nervous. 

“I’m going to play with people in the most famous music building in Massachusetts,” Li said, calling the opportunity “humongo.” “When I think of it and shudder, I try to think of something happy.”

For Steltzer, this will be her second performance in the Family Concert, and it’s an opportunity she relishes. 

“I like to take part in opportunities that are in front of me,” Steltzer said, adding that she enjoyed playing with Musica Viva in the previous concert. 

Both Steltzer and Li began playing piano in kindergarten and said that experience helped them pick up marimba. Steltzer arrived at marimba after picking up percussion and finding she “didn’t really like drums.” 

Now, she said, she can see herself continuing to play marimba at least throughout her remaining high school years. 

“I like that it’s so unique and not many people know what it is,” she said. “It’s special.”

Li also said he enjoys playing marimba, but that enjoyment extends beyond this specific instrument.

“I just like instruments,” Li said. “I just like to learn new ones.”

Steltzer and Li will perform a world premiere of “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Patrick Greene during the Family Concert.