Ashland, Ore.- It was a big weekend for one North Medford High School student. NMHS Senior Courtney Badura performed solo with the Southern Oregon Youth Symphony this weekend, after winning the Concerto.
She says, “People know me as the flute player.”
The flute has been her passion for years now. She started playing when she was in sixth grade.
“There’s something really rewarding about doing a piece and getting something out of it. It’s like, ‘Wow I made that happen,” Courtney explains of the playing the flute.
She’s been preparing for her final solo performance with the Southern Oregon Youth Symphony for a year and she began memorizing her solo pieces around six months ago.
Courtney’s passion for the flute started back in 2012, thanks to her older brother. She joined band in an effort to spend more time with him. Doing that turned out to be a pretty impactful decision.
“It’s so weird to think that’s why I started because it’s like changed my life,” Badura says.
The Badura kids time together in band didn’t last too long. Her brother quit just about three weeks after Courtney joined. But regardless of that, Courtney’s time with the flute continued.
She’s been in the Southern Oregon Youth Symphony for 4 years now and is their principal flutist.
Courtney says she always enjoyed playing but didn’t consider herself good until sophomore year. It was after that, that she says she started working harder and practicing more but all the while it’s clear how she continues to stay humble.
“It’s a fine line between accepting compliments and coming across as being vain or being arrogant.”
The path to pursuing her passion continued when was accepted into a flute master class in Los Angeles over the summer. An experience that she describes as being inspirational.
It was during that master class that Courtney says she discovered what she wants to do with her future.
“I would love to play in a symphony and do solo performances and I also want to teach. Eventually I want to get my doctorate so I can teach at a university.”
With all of that in mind Courtney got ready to perform her final solo with the Southern Oregon Youth Symphony after previously performing her first solo with the symphony on Saturday at The Craterian.
When thinking on her performance Sunday night, Courtney says, “I’m looking forward to this performance because I’ve already done it once so it should be easier.”
And it was. Courtney’s final solo performance went off without a hitch.
The next thing on her to-do list, college applications with top choices set as University of Southern California or Colbern Conservatory.
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