Naperville cellist featured on NPR's 'From the Top'

A senior at Naperville North High School, Jack Boettcher, will appear this coming week on an episode of "From the Top," a NPR radio program featuring some of America's best young classical musicians.

Jack, 17, is a cellist who also is a member of North's state champion math team. He studies cello with Hans Jørgen Jensen and previously studied with Sally Gross. He also studies music with Sooka Wang, piano with Nancy Liley, and composition with Matt Hagle.

Jack performs with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and has won concerto competitions for its concert and symphony orchestras. He has soloed with professional orchestras and performed at Carnegie Hall. He also has performed for more than eight years with the cello ensemble Cellissimo, composing pieces for the group as well as other ensembles.

As a winner of a Chicago Bulls talent search, Jack performed his own arrangement of a Queen classic at a Bulls half-time show.

The NPR show will air nationally on participating stations and by podcast during the week of Nov. 5 (visit fromthetop.org to listen and subscribe).

The broadcast features performances and interviews with outstanding young musicians and guest host pianist Peter Dugan and was taped before a live audience at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

On the broadcast, Jack performs "Pampeana No. 2, Op. 21 for Cello and Piano" by Alberto Ginastera with Dugan.

Following the taping at Longwood Gardens, Jack and the other featured musicians performed and visited with guests at Broad Street Ministry in Philadelphia as a part of "From the Top's" community engagement program.

Broadcast on more than 220 stations nationwide to an audience of nearly 500,000, "From the Top" is the most popular weekly one-hour music program on public radio. Young performers share their passion for classical music and speak about their nonmusical lives, from career goals and family traditions to hidden talents, school and community life.