Audrey Vardanega’s Musical Path Was Both
Destined and Deliberate
By Lily O’Brien, January 26, 2021
For some, music is simply a calling. And if all the planets align, a successful career can become a reality. In the case of pianist Audrey Vardanega, it was unquestionably her destiny. An Oakland native, she began studying piano seriously at age 6, debuted as a soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at age 10 and with acclaimed conductor George Cleve at the Midsummer Mozart Festival when she was just 11. She played her first solo recital a year later at the Festival Del Sole (now the Napa Valley Festival). Now at just 25, her years of experience touring internationally as a solo and chamber musician have earned her numerous accolades. In addition to performing, she is also a composer and is the artistic director for Musaics of the Bay, a chamber music program she founded in 2019 that pairs performers and living composers with visual artists, poets, sculptors, and filmmakers to create musical compositions based on works of art. The series runs every Monday through June 2021.
I chatted with Vardanega from her home in Oakland about the blessings and the challenges she has faced along her musical and personal journey.