Teen Violinist Expands Music Education

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Laurentia Woo. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Laurentia Woo, 17, is a talented violinist on a mission. She’s classically trained and has been in pre-college programs since she was 4 years old, first at Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, then at the Colburn School in Los Angeles upon moving to the U.S., and now at Julliard in New York. These audition-based programs offer Saturdays full of lessons, orchestra, chamber music and theory.

A few years ago, she fell in love with contemporary classical compositions, a genre she’d previously cast aside, and was changed. Attempting to share her discovery, Laurentia founded the Clexical Foundation by making a website and hosting composer interviews as the world started emerging from the pandemic. The goal was—and is—to make contemporary classical music more accessible. Today, along with her ambassadors, Laurentia fosters greater awareness and appreciation of the style, expands access to music education and creates performance opportunities that highlight underrepresented composers.

What inspires you to volunteer?

My first violin teacher, Jennifer Moberg, went to Afghanistan to teach kids violin when I was 7 years old. She inspired me to be a musician who uplifts my community, not one who only plays for themselves or for certain people. One day, I saw a flyer fundraising to build a music school in Myanmar. I grabbed two of my friends—a cellist and a pianist—and hosted a concert where we played trio works. We raised a few hundred dollars to donate and did a few concerts before I moved to Los Angeles. Ever since then, I’ve carried that responsibility—that as a musician, I should be contributing to my community.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

For a long time, I thought contemporary classical music was too atonal or ugly and dissonant compared to works by Bach or Mozart. That’s a stigma many children raised in this strict classical education system have. During my freshman year of high school, I participated in the Johansen International Competition in Washington, D.C. Jessica Krash wrote a piece for us called “The Imagined Wisdom of Bella Pavis” inspired by her great grandmother who had passed away, to have a conversation through the piece. I really connected to it. At that time, my own grandmother had recently passed away.

I realized that we shouldn’t have this stigma towards new music, because it truly reflects the emotions we’re having in the current times. Many kids, like me, whose mindsets are so ingrained about new music bring unapproachable, end up not exposing themselves to these kinds of experiences. It’s important to make it accessible in education systems, not only the elite ones but in every part of musical education and to kids who may not even have access to these schools. That’s why I started Clexical.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Clexical.

As the founder and president, for like three years from the beginning, I managed everything by myself. I did about 30 composer interviews discussing their creative processes and recently published a book based on them. I was writing all of the news articles and posting seminars at schools and libraries near me. Then, I realized this could also be useful to kids without any accessibility to this genre, so I partnered with El Sistema, an organization doing work to help children and underserved communities get musical education. I now host composition workshops and contemporary music workshops for those children to be able to compose their own music and better understand the music of today.

As Clexical started to gain traction, my peers wanted help. Now, I have around nine team members, or ambassadors, in the U.S. and Canada who conduct interviews and contribute to news articles about new compositions and events. Through our buddy program, our ambassadors offer one-on-one sessions with children interested in learning about composition and interpreting new music. Ambassadors also host workshops and champion the mission in their own areas. My role has become helping them carry out their own events and missions as well.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

I’m really looking forward to the concerts scheduled for the Clexical ensemble made up of a few of our members. We play new music by student composers or famous living composers. We’re also planning a free online summer camp providing new music education, composition, ear training, music theory and new music interpretation classes. We work with all ages, but the majority of people are 7 to 12 years old.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

One of the best experiences was the first workshop I held with El Sistema with about 30 kids, 7 to 18 years old. They were all heavily invested. Some of the little kids started improvising and composing their own little melodies after we taught them how. The older kids really enjoyed listening to the new music being produced today, especially things with technology incorporated. Seeing people of such a wide age range truly enjoying and immersing themselves in this art form and finding their own voice within it was very moving.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

Contemporary music thrives on conversation and community. It’s important that we keep engaging with it, whether it’s by performing, listening, teaching or even advocating. It helps the field become more vibrant and inclusive. I’ve always thought of Clexical as a lifelong project. Contemporary music is the future of classical music. It’s important that people can become involved with it and help shape what it’s going to become so that it continues to evolve and reflect the diverse voices that we have across the world.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I had no experience building a nonprofit. But no matter how young or inexperienced you are, if you have passion, vision and goals for what you want to change in your community, it can happen. You can grow and achieve every one of those goals.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Laurentia? Find local volunteer opportunities.