A Spark of Love for Music Leads to the Main Stage for One Young Violinist
September 3, 2025
By: Jon Ross
Standing in front of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the guest violinist took a breath, paused, then slowly, with a steady hand and a full, gorgeous tone, revealed the first notes of “Adoration” by Florence Price.
Later, her excitement practically jumped through the computer screen.
“Solo at SIXTEEN? With the ASO? Who would have thought?” she wrote on Instagram after the show.
Violinist Waverly Alexander attributes much of her success – which includes a summer spent at the Heifetz International Music Institute – to her time orbiting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She joined the organization’s Talent Development Program at age 9 (she got in on her first try, she notes). TDP has given her the space, the coaching and the encouragement to flourish.
That’s where the growing sparks of music in her life developed from mere flickers to a roaring flame. The ASO will soon nurture that spark in other young listeners with the new Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families. In a partnership between the ASO and the Alliance Theatre, this transformation of the old Rich Auditorium, opening in January of 2026, will serve as a celebration of the arts, focused on creating a sense of wonder for young minds.
The symphony will program concerts that create a flash of possibility in the minds of young listeners, turning that tiny spark into a glow that only grows brighter and deeper.
“On any given day, you’ll be able to stop by in the morning for a music or theater performance for young people; in the afternoon, you might find a rehearsal; and in the evening, you can catch a performance of anything from chamber music to theater to comedy and everything in between,” Jennifer Barlament, the ASO’s executive director, said during the Goizueta Stage groundbreaking last year.
Waverly’s musical spark, that initial feeling of awe at seeing what music can do, first flashed when she picked up the violin at age 3. It emerged again, at 6, when she first auditioned for a youth symphony. The ASO then nurtured her musical fire through the Talent Development Program, helping her explore avenues now open to her as a professional musician. She soon met “other like-minded musicians,” helping solidify her community of teenage music makers. It’s also where she’s learned to harness her pre-concert jitters into sublime performances.
“During performance, I try to let my nerves fuel me instead of holding me back. A lot of the nervous energy I feel right before performance, I consider it a good thing; it just means I’m really excited about what I’m about to perform,” she says.
When she’s not practicing around three hours a day or attending school, you might find Waverly with her nose in a book; her favorites include “Hamlet” and “Animal Farm.” She is also learning to cook in preparation for heading off to college in a few years. The TDP program also provides Waverly with a one-hour lesson every week, exposure to prestigious summer music programs and opportunities to perform. On top of all that, there are occasional Saturday lessons in music theory or conducting with the rest of the TDP cohort.
“I’ve performed on stages that I never really imagined that I would ever get the opportunity to perform on,” she says of the TDP program. “I’ve worked with people that I never would have dreamed of working with.”
Waverly says that the initial drive to use art as a means of expression came from her parents. Her mother loved dance; her father played music in school.
“They were always drawn toward music and expressing themselves,” she says. “They just thought, why don’t we share our love for music with our child.”
At the ASO, love of the arts, and maybe even a career making music, starts with a spark of imagination. In January, the ASO hopes to begin spreading that musical glow throughout Atlanta.
“When children see performances, they hear music, they see art that looks and feels like them – it just makes them feel more hopeful,” Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of Woodruff Arts Center, said during the groundbreaking. “What this Goizueta Stage will be is a sanctuary for dreams.”