Home of: Brenna Hyvonen

CHARLO — From eager student to modest teacher, master pianist to brave wildland firefighter — Lake County native Brenna Mae Hyvonen is ever evolving in her many roles.

The 21-year-old University of Montana music education major started from humbler beginnings in her hometown of Charlo, where she was born and raised.

Hyvonen started playing the piano when she was eight, and was taught to play by teacher Donna Wilson from grade school through high school.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere without Donna,” Hyvonen said.

When it came to college, Hyvonen first ventured out to Portland, Ore., beginning her freshman year as a forestry major. The forestry decision worked hand-in-hand with her summer job, wildland firefighting. Since graduating high school in spring 2005, Hyvonen has sweated out four summers of seasonal firefighting to make money to help pay for college.

Braving the summer heat, Hyvonen worked as a seasonal firefighter with the Tribe in Ronan from 2005-06 before going on to work with the Forest Service in West Yellowstone in 2007 and Choteau in 2008.

“I started doing it for the money and I really wanted a job outdoors,” Hyvonen said. “I really like the intensity of it.”

After venturing back to her home state, Hyvonen found herself more and more compelled to dive back into piano, and — as she says “music is not something you can do half-way” — she gave her full focus to being a music major at the University of Montana.

Now in her junior year, Hyvonen recently won a concerto competition at the university’s recital hall which awarded her the chance to play with the UM Orchestra on March 20. On the big night, she graced the keys of the piano with Gershwin’s “Concerto in F.”

“It’s always been a dream of mine to perform with an orchestra so that was really a great experience,” Hyvonen added.

The young student was so thrilled by the main stage, live concert experience that she says she may try to perform the other two movements of the Gershwin piece with the Missoula Symphony. Hyvonen has worked with the symphony before, but never performing as a soloist.

Another part of what she loves in being a music education major is its duplicity. Hyvonen has the options of combining her performing arts career and spreading the tools and knowledge of the craft to others through teaching.

So when she’s not wowing orchestra audiences with her skill or buried under 24 credits of classes, Hyvonen teaches Kiira DeVries, a blind UM student, how to play the piano. For two lessons a week, the sight-impaired scholar learns a piece of music note-for-note with Brenna at her side. Hyvonen’s current piano teacher Steven Hesla — who she calls an “amazing mentor,” also teaches DeVries twice a week.

Looking down the road, Hyvonen hopes to graduate in spring 2010, after which she will do some student teaching.

“I want to be a teacher, whether in a public or private school,” she said.

But whether she’s teaching youngsters, accompanying vocalists with her piano stylings or taking up another chance to play with they symphony, Hyvonen will always keep performing.