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The Youth Orchestra of Bucks County
will be hosting the Washington Saxophone Quartet in March for a series
of workshops and master classes with the 65-piece Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
This event will culminate in a full evening concert by the WSaxQ
wherein YOBC’s saxophone section will perform selections with the
quartet. YOBC’s 70-piece Symphony Orchestra will host a master
class for strings this winter by Jeffrey Solow, professor of
violincello and chair of instrumental studies at Temple University’s
Boyer College of Music and Dance.
“Youths Rise as Trio Shines” - So began the review
in the Chicago Tribune
of the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s
“Orpheus and Eurydice” triple concerto by the Chicago Youth Symphony
Orchestra and the Amelia Trio. Music
Director Allen Tinkham said, “The combination of Daron’s
colorful score and the communicative gifts of the Amelia Trio made this
an extremely worthwhile experience.” David Arrivee and the
CalPoly Symphony gave the West Coast premiere. The Northwest premiere
was with the Corvallis, OR Youth Symphony and
conductor Charles Creighton, who said “The composer was an
inspiration to the orchestra, and both the audience and the orchestra
loved the piece. … the artists willingly gave extra time to the
students and the community.” The objective of this commissioning
project was to create a symphonic work that was both exciting and
challenging for young orchestral players. Next on this initial tour
will be the Vermont Youth Orchestra with
conductor Troy Peters in January.
The Dayton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
is celebrating its 70th anniversary this season. Founded in 1937
by Paul Katz, the 98-member DPYO is one of the nation’s oldest
youth orchestras. In addition to an end-of-the-season birthday concert,
upcoming performances by the DPYO include a February collaboration with
three Dayton-area dance companies (“It’s a World of
Dance”), a side-by-side concert with the Dayton Philharmonic
Orchestra, and a very special production of Hans Krasa’s opera Brundibar
featuring a collaboration between the DPYO Chamber Orchestra, the
Dayton Opera, the Kettering Children’s Choir, and the Victoria
Theatre Association. The DPYO and conductor Patrick Reynolds completed
the first half of its season with a performance of Franz von
Suppé’s Poet
and Peasant Overture, Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia,
and Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, “Romantic”.
The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has awarded the Denver Young Artists
Orchestra $50,000 through its Catalyst
Partner grant program. Under the terms of the grant, the orchestra
receives $50,000 each year for up to three years; the funds are used to
improve infrastructure and organizational development; hire
world-renowned guests soloists; and foster a partnership with the Aspen
Music Festival and School’s Composition Department, one of whose
young composers will write a work to be performed by DYAO. The
orchestra held its 30th anniversary concert on January 13 in
Boettcher Concert Hall, featuring the world premiere of a newly
commissioned work, Thirty by 5 x 8, by composer Belinda
Reynolds. In February, DYAO will have its annual side-by-side
performance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
To help defray costs for its European tour, the Empire State Youth
Orchestra held a champagne brunch benefit in
November before the ESYO’s first full-length concert of the
season. Corporate sponsorships and individual donations grossed over
$50,000, netting $360 for each musician’s tour account. Parents
are also raising funds, selling $12,000 worth of Yankee Candles, for a
net of $5,000. They are planning a dance and silent auction, and a
restaurant night during which local eateries will donate a percentage
of their sales to ESYO. The orchestra’s 2nd annual book fair
yielded $3,000 - twice as much as last year’s fair. ESYO
musicians performed throughout the day, music stories were read to
children, and kazoo lessons were given to the young and the
young-at-heart!
The Georgia Youth Symphony, currently
in its second season, will expand its scope this January with the
launch of two new partnerships: with Zion Baptist Church, setting the
stage for a world-music component to the orchestral experience; and
with young composers throughout the Southeast, who will be guided by
faculty at the University of South Carolina in getting performances and
recordings of their works. Finally, students from throughout the
Southeast converged early December to compete for a chance to win a
solo performance with the Cobb Symphony and a solo performance with the
Georgia Youth Symphony in the 2007-008 Young Artists Competition. The
Young Artist Competition carried cash prizes of $1,000, $500, and
$325.
The Youth Symphony of Kansas City
welcomed 45 returning alumni for the 14th Alumni Concert on
Saturday, December 22. While most are college students, some
alumni were in the Youth Symphony 30 years ago. The alumni join the
Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Steven D. Davis, in a performance
featuring works by Smetana, Dvorák, and Sibelius. YSKC will
present concerts for the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration
Concert in Kansas City and for the
Lincoln Lecture at the University
of St. Mary, Leavenworth, Kansas.
Maryland
Classic Youth Orchestras’ first
concert of the season featured an appearance by Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra Concertmaster Jonathan Carney as soloist with the MCYO
Philharmonic. MCYO had master classes with Katherine Needleman,
BSO principal oboe, and Ilya Finkelshtyn, BSO principal cello. Two
harpists performed at the White House, as did a string quartet from
MCYO. The harpists also performed at the National Institute of
Health’s Childrens’ Inn.
The Philharmonic concertmaster and associate concertmaster performed at
the Walters Museum of Art in Baltimore for the National Assembly
of State Arts Agencies. In January, BSO Music Director Marin Alsop will
conduct an open rehearsal with the MCYO Philharmonic. 2008 will also
see the beginning of a new ensemble—a chamber orchestra.
The Greater Miami Youth Symphony and Youth Orchestra of Palm
Beach County will participate together in
two side-by-side concerts, one in Boca Raton
at the Countess de Hoernle Auditorium, and one on Miami Beach at
the Lincoln Theatre. The collaboration will involve a total of six
orchestras. The beginning, intermediate, and advanced groups from each
youth symphony will practice and perform together an exciting array of
repertoire, showcasing the very best that South Florida young musicians
have to offer. These concerts will take place March 1 and
8.
On Friday, December 28th, the Beijing
and Beyond Photo Display officially opened at the Milwaukee Youth
Arts Center.
Students, chaperones, and accompanying adults were invited to submit
entries for a photo competition following the Milwaukee Youth Symphony
Orchestra’s twelve-day tour of China.
You can read more about the tour by visiting the MYSO website and
clicking on http://www.myso.org/specialProjects.asp. Nearly
200 wonderful photos were submitted, all of which will be displayed.
Competition winners will be announced at the opening, which is open to
the public, and the exhibit will be on display through
January.
Music City Youth Orchestra,
Nashville’s new eclectic youth
orchestra founded in June 2007, is currently rehearsing as a string
orchestra with 20 talented students in grades seven to twelve, and will
present its first public concert at The Belcourt Theatre in Nashville on February
9, 2008. Internationally renowned Tracy Silverman (“the
greatest living exponent of the electric violin” – BBC)
serves as MCYO’s artist in residence, and the group is led by
veteran music educator, composer, and conductor Walter Bitner.
Hallmarks of the new program include a high-energy, joyful atmosphere
for music-making and an eclectic approach to programming that embraces
both traditional music for orchestra and alternative repertory.
MCYO’s inaugural season will feature masterworks by Corelli, Elgar,
and Haydn; new arrangements of rock and jazz standards by the likes of
Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra, and
Radiohead; and traditional music from around the world.
The Greater New Haven Youth Orchestra,
part of Neighborhood Music School’s
youth ensemble program, and the Connecticut Youth Symphony
came together for a collaborative concert on December 16 the University of Hartford’s Lincoln
Theater. The orchestras held a joint rehearsal in New Haven on December 9th,
but due to inclement weather the concert had to be postponed. This was
the first collaboration of these two Connecticut orchestras, and their
hope is that this partnership will continue.
John Stravinsky, grandson of the renowned composer, attended the
opening performance of the New York Youth Symphony’s
45th Season at Carnegie Hall. The award-winning ensemble
performed the Suite from Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird,
conducted by Ryan McAdams in his debut as the NYYS’s fifteenth
music director. The performance also included an appearance by William
Harvey in the world première of a violin concerto by Clint Needham,
commissioned through NYYS’s First Music program. The
festivities culminated in the presentation of the Theodore L. Kesselman
Award for Arts Education to Zarin Mehta, president and executive
director of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Mehta was presented with the
award by Kenneth Mirkin, violist of the New York Philharmonic and an
alumnus of the New York Youth Symphony.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic
received more than 100 applicants in its search for only the fifth
conductor and music director in its 84-year-history. The pool of
candidates was narrowed to four finalists who will audition during the
months of January, February and March 2008. Mei-Ann Chen was the
PYP’s fourth conductor and music director, but left for a
Fellowship with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra through the League of
American Orchestras. Chen has since received a Taki Concordia
Fellowship as well. Both Chen and Huw Edwards, the PYP’s third
conductor and music director, came back to PYP to fill in as guest
conductors during the interim year, along with Alastair Willis and Ken
Selden.
In the summer of 2007, the San Jose Youth Symphony
Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Music Director
and Conductor Yair Samet, performed five sold-out concerts on their
tour of the Czech Republic, Austria,
Hungary, and Poland.
The tour included performances in many of Europe’s
most eminent concert halls, among them the Dvorák Concert Hall and the
Chopin and Liszt Academies of Music. The SJYS Philharmonic Orchestra
also performed for local dignitaries including several U.S.
ambassadors. The Honorable April Foley presented the orchestra with the
Ambassador Award for Cultural Diplomacy. The SJYS Philharmonic
Orchestra recently presented its first subscription concert of the
2007-08 season, showcasing three living Asian composers and performing
two U.S.
premieres: Alamuhan by Chinese composer Nai-chung
Kuan, and Variations
on a Korean Peasant Song by Korean composer
Geongong Lee. The orchestra also performed a side-by-side concert with
San Jose Taiko for a performance of Folkloric Dance Suite for Orchestra by Kaoru
Wada.
In March 2008, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra
will present the world premiere of a newly commissioned work, Beyond Circumstance,
by Joseph Koykkar. As part of this project, the composer will present a
master class for WYSO members and a free, five-week composition seminar
for students ages twelve to eighteen. This project is funded in part by
grants from the Madison Arts Commission, Meet The Composer’s
MetLife Creative Connections program and the Dane County Cultural
Affairs Commission with additional funds from the Madison Community
Foundation, the Overture Foundation, and the American Girl’s Fund
for Children.
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