Meet the Students: Asha Kline
Asha Kline, from Ellicott City, Md., entered Curtis in 2020. A bassoonist, she studies with Daniel Matsukawa. Asha is an avid orchestral player and has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra’s Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artists Orchestra, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2. Here she explains how these orchestral experiences have been some of the most formative in her musical life and details her many non-musical pursuits.
What has been your most important musical experience until now?
I spent the summers of 2018 and 2019 at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Lying outside on the lawn, looking at the stars and listening to the Boston Symphony play Ravel or Hilary Hahn play Bach are some of my happiest, most peaceful memories. I loved walking through the grounds and feeling the legacy of all the world-renowned musicians who had been there before me.
What are you looking forward to most about attending Curtis?
I am looking forward to being in an environment where I can learn from and be inspired by my peers. Especially right now, having not played in an ensemble for over six months, the thought of being able to play alongside the musicians in the Curtis orchestra sounds like heaven.
Are there any hobbies you’ve been able to focus on during quarantine?
Rather than focusing on just one hobby, quarantine has allowed me to explore many new areas. In the first couple of months, I was baking something new every day. I experimented with cooking, trying to learn how to make the Indian dishes that my mother grew up eating. I’ve gotten into crocheting, making a vegetable garden, raising monarch caterpillars, going for walks and bike rides, reading, trying to code an app, learning to water ski, and playing tennis.
What was the last performance you participated in?
Two days before schools shut down on March 13, the conductor of my youth orchestra told us to run through our program as if it was the last time we’d play together as an orchestra, though at the time none of us believed that would end up being true. To me, that “performance” was just as memorable as a real concert because it gave us all an emotional outlet for our uncertainties about how life was about to change.