World’s Top Young Musicians Arriving in Fayette County Festival Hill Concerts Begin Saturday

Festival Hill Concerts Begin Saturday

Thirty-seven of the top young musicians in the world arrived at the Round Top Festival Institute on Sunday, June 6. They will spend the next six weeks learning from masters of classical music. The Institute holds public concerts at Festival Hill each Saturday evening during the season. The first concert takes place this Saturday, June 12, at 7: 30 p.m. We will profile some of the musicians in upcoming issues of the Record throughout the Festival season. Here is the first, featuring Katia Osorio.

Katia Osorio, a bassoonist from Houston, turns 23 on the last day of the Festival. She holds a bachelor of music from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently pursing a master of music performance degree at Yale University.

“I did church choir when I was little, so I was always kind of involved in music,” she said. “I joined band in middle school, but the year before, in the fifth grade, my school district had a thing called Instrument Petting Zoo. All the fifth graders would go to the middle school and look at a bunch of instruments to see what they wanted to play.”

Osorio said she wanted to play the flute or clarinet, “or percussion if all else failed.” But the band director had a different idea.

“He pulled me aside and asked, ‘How about bassoon?’” Osorio said. “I was like, ‘What is that?’ But he talked me into it. I didn’t know what it was or what I was getting into. But here I am over 10 years later.”

At UT, Osorio studied under Kristen Wolfe Jensen. At Yale, she is studying under Frank Morelli.

“It was a random instrument choice, but it has worked out pretty well,” she said.

Osorio said she heard about the Festival Institute’s summer program through her undergraduate professors and fellow students.

“When I road tripped between Houston and Austin I would pass by here all the time, and I had no idea it was here,” she said. “Who would have thought there was this campus in a small town? It’s charming.”

This year the Institute downsized the orchestra to just 37 musicians due to COVID.

“It definitely was a lot more competitive,” Osorio said of the application process. “A lot of festivals were either not taking new admissions or they cancelled their season completely due to COVID. There were a lot less spots to compete for.”

Osorio, who celebrates her Honduran heritage, takes a keen interest in curating works by minority composers. She co-founded a video project and YouTube channel called Expo sure, which highlights works by minority artists. Ozorio doesn’t listen to just classical music.

“On Spotify, neo-soul is my go-to,” she said. “Anything by Solange – she’s actually Beyoncé’s sister, and they’re both musical geniuses. The Internet – I got to see them in concert a few years ago, and they’re amazing. I’m also into the band called Khruangbin – they’re a psychedelic, indy-rock type band that formed in Houston.

“I listen to a lot of different artists, but I’m going through a neo-soul phase right now,” she said.

Osorio said she looks forward to the next six weeks.

“It’s only day two, and its been really busy, but its a fun busy,” she said. “I feel lucky and blessed to even play with people after a year and a half of Zoom world. It’s really refreshing to be around other people.”