Meet Our Musicians: Old and New
As one of our oldest alumni and one of our youngest current musicians, Amelia Donoghue and Kaitlyn Kaminuma have some unique perspectives to share. We interviewed them to learn about their experience with Continuo and music in general!
Amelia Donoghue
Amelia is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University, where she majors in Music Education. She previously studied piano at NEC and was a member of Continuo Boston in the 2018-19 season. In her free time, Amelia enjoys hanging out with friends and playing with her dog.
Lucy Chae: How has your life changed since you graduated high school? What are you doing now, and what are your plans for the future?
Amelia Donoghue: I’m studying piano in college, so my life is more music-centric; it’s a big change from where I was a couple years ago! In high school, I was balancing the high school experience, regular classes, and piano on the side. It’s really interesting to have piano as my only focus now, but I really love it.
I’m not super sure about what I’ll be in the future—I actually had a bit of an existential crisis over the summer. Currently, I’m a Music Education major.
LC: How did Continuo influence your experience with music as well as your life outside of music?
AD: Continuo was a major factor in making me go for music, actually! Piano is such a lonely instrument—usually, I just played alone and didn’t interact with other musicians. When Maia first contacted me about Continuo, I got the opportunity to collaborate with really cool people. I enjoyed just hanging out with the musicians I met through Continuo.
I also learned a lot about schedule management—just creating programs, coordinating rehearsal times, and such. Now, I’m much better at contacting people.
LC: What is your favorite memory from your time as a musician at Continuo?
AD: My favorite would be the time when I played a Schubert Piano Quartet with a bassoonist, a violinist, and a violist. We loved performing it, and the members at the senior center loved it too. It’s actually really funny how my groups have come up with arrangements for weird combinations of instruments. We were always nervous about planning things at that time, but looking back, I just appreciate the wacky things we came up with to make an interesting program.
LC: You’ve been at Continuo from the very beginning. What was it like to see the organization grow?
AD: I feel like there’s often the stereotype that lots of people play instruments, but don’t really love it—maybe their parents made them learn or they thought they needed to know how to play music at a basic level. I just loved that there were a lot of musicians in the Boston area who wanted to come together and grow as musicians. I really wish I was back in Boston so I could still play in Continuo!
Kaitlyn Kaminuma
“No matter what, music will always be part of my life. It’ll always be my career even if I’m not a professional.”
Kaitlyn is a sophomore at Chelmsford High School. She has been a violinist of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras since 2013, and has been a member of its top orchestra, Boston Youth Symphony, since 2017. She was selected for Carnegie Hall's NYO2 orchestra during the summer of 2020. In her free time, Kaitlyn likes to go on nature walks, skateboard, and attempt baking.
Lucy Chae: What motivated you to join Continuo?
Kaitlyn Kaminuma: I was looking for a way to branch out and get a new experience. Continuo is really different from traditional music organizations like orchestras, and I wanted to see what it would be like to take part in a group that wanted to share music more informally.
LC: You’re probably used to being one of the youngest members of music organizations. What is this like, and what have you learned from this experience?
KK: I’m actually the youngest in my family as well, so I’m very used to being the “young one!” I think being the youngest in groups like BYSO and Continuo has been an advantage for me. I’m so grateful to be surrounded by older, more mature musicians who can give me advice. Just being around other people has taught me a lot about music and life in general.
LC: Hopefully, you’ll stay around for a while at Continuo—what are you looking forward to most this year? In the next couple of years?
KK: I’m looking forward to changing my attitude about music because I’ve always been a serious student. I’ve realized that I focus too much on achieving perfection and often forget why I really pursued music in the first place. Through Continuo, I’ve learned that music is a way to destress and share joy with others.
In the long term, I’m excited for the growth of the program—more musicians joining and more people being able to enjoy our music.
LC: How do you think music will play a role in your life in the future?
KK: I’m not sure right now whether I’ll pursue music professionally, and I sometimes get stressed out about making the choice soon. There’s so much work you need to do if you want to apply to music school, and a lot of people think that you need to be at a certain level to do that in the first place.
No matter what, music will always be part of my life. It’ll always be my career even if I’m not a professional.
