Anika Veda is an alum of CMPI who graduated along with the class of 2022. Having completed her first year studying Flute performance at Rice University, she joins the CMPI staff this summer as our second CMPI Intern. After her time gaining arts administration experience in Chicago this summer, she will travel to Colorado to take part in the Aspen Music Festival.
Anika grew up in the suburbs of Chicago where she attended a public high school and began honing her skills on the flute. One weekend in CYSO rehearsals CMPI Project Advisor Adrienne Thompson visited and invited students to apply to CMPI. Anika says that in all honesty at that point she was unsure if she wanted to do music full-time. She was near the end of her first year of high school, studying under Hideko Amano and refining her fundamentals. “It wasn’t until sophomore and junior year that I started getting more serious about music, and in senior year I just locked in.” Studying under Amano for six years allowed Anika to build a strong rapport with her teacher. “She taught me how to put in consistent work and about the importance of having strong fundamentals.”
This relationship was essential to the next steps for Anika, who as a junior found a new mentor in Jennifer Gunn, a flute and piccolo performer in the Chicago Symphony. With Gunn, Anika says that she learned about “digging into the details” in new ways and found details and nuance in the music that she hadn’t before. Now, as a member of the flute studio of Leone Buyse at Rice, Anika says that she can tell she is heading in the right direction. “(Buyse) strives to help people find intentionality in their playing; she doesn’t hold your hand, and that’s a good thing!”
Anika is an activist and a musician who is passionate about making the classical music world more equitable, and “helping towards the greater cause,” this being one of the reasons she joins the CMPI team this summer. When discussing her future aspirations she says, “I want to play with an orchestra, but also to be involved in my community.” She adds that, “going through CMPI helped me realize how important the work is.”
Anika’s favorite part about CMPI was the fact that the whole family is involved. “Having my parents super involved and educated on going into music made them have a lot more faith in the process. They are way less worried about me because they know of this program. If I was able to handle this in high school why not in the future too?”
Her musical inspiration comes from a variety of genres. “I listen to a conglomeration of everything! Some classical, some indie punk, lots of things. I like keeping things varied!” In the classical arena, Anika has a recommendation to share, “Guillaume Connesson, a contemporary French composer, writes really cool chamber music! I discovered him after hearing a flute piece that has been performed a lot recently.”
Anika wants to encourage current fellows to trust themselves. “Don’t worry, the hard work will pay off in the end. The effort you are putting in now will pay off in the future.”
Enjoy a recent video of Anika performing Mozart below.
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Anika Veda