Computer Science student gives ’virtuoso’ Chopin performance

Pianist Catherine He, winner of Concert and Aria Competition, performs with the Waterloo university orchestra. By Melodie Roschman Faculty of Mathematics As the triumphant last notes of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 rang out, the packed auditorium filled with thunderous applause. Catherine He, the pianist performing the concerto, is not a professional musician, or even a music major, but rather an undergraduate computer science student at the University of Waterloo. He, who has been playing the piano since she was four years old, is the most recent winner of Conrad Grebel University College's Concerto and Aria Competition. Held every two years, the competition invites Waterloo students and recent graduates to perform a piece written for soloist and orchestra before a panel of professional musician judges.