Meet the First Place Winner of CSO's 2019 Youth Competition, Jonathan Pak

Jonathan Pak

Jonathan Pak, an 18-year-old senior at Desert Vista High School, began playing the piano at age six with Dr. Meir and switched to cello at age 10 under the guidance of Jan Simiz, assistant principal cello of the Phoenix Symphony. He has served as principal cellist in various orchestras. He has also played in various chamber ensembles, such as the Eurus String Quartet and Pierrotmaniacs.

Jonathan has won several solo competitions, including 1st Place in the PYS Young Musicians Competition 2016, 1st Place (2016) and 2nd Place (2017) in the Musicfest Young Musicians Solo Competition, 3rd Place in the PYS Young Musicians Competition 2018, 2nd Place in the ASTA Solo Competition 2018, and 1st Place in the Chandler Symphony Youth Competition (2019).

As of 2017, Jonathan has worked as a volunteer teacher at Harmony Project, which provides free music education to underprivileged students in Phoenix. In addition to music, he is a volunteer in the Desert Vista Peer Tutoring Organization and has qualified for National History Bee and Bowl. In 2017, he was a Speech and Debate National Qualifiers Finalist.
In his free time, he likes to cook, watch movies and listen to Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos on repeat. Jonathan is an ardent proponent for the music of Arnold Schoenberg. He is also an avid fan of Glenn Gould, Sir Roger Norrington and Quentin Tarantino.