Mira Yamamoto, recipient of a sustaining $2,500 music scholarship from the Edmonds Rotary Noon Club and Friends of Cascade Symphony Orchestra, gave a violin performance during the Rotary Club’s meeting Tuesday at Salt & Iron.

Yamamoto, who is home following her freshman year at The Julliard School in New York City, played selections from composers Sarasate and Lalo and also talked with club members about life at Julliard and how she started playing the violin. She shared that she was adopted at age 2 1/2 from the central Asian country of Kazakhstan, and was having trouble learning English. “My mom started me on violin because she thought it would help me learn to speak,” Yamamoto said.

Yamamoto began playing violin at age 3 1/2. She was one of only 15 violinists worldwide who were accepted to Juilliard last September.

She grew up in the Seattle area and during her last two years of high school she served as concertmaster of Seattle-based Thalia Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Cascade Symphony Orchestra Maestro Michael Miropolsky.

Yamamoto says her dream is “to be soloist and play some of my favorite concertos.”