| Sunday Jun 12, 2016 3:00 PM - Sunday Jun 12, 2016 5:30 PM | Free - $2500.00 |
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Event
YPSO Pops and Pre-Tour Concert
Young People's Symphony Orchestra
David Ramadanoff Music Director/Conductor
Program
Bernstein - Candide Overture
Khachaturian - Flute Concerto in D minor, 1st movement, Jeremy Goldwasser, flute
Forsyth - Concerto for Viola in G minor, 1st, Kayla Reagan, Viola
Bartok - Violin Concerto No. 1, 2nd movement, Sabrina Chern, violin
Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances, 1st movement
Johann Strauss Jr. - Perpetuum Mobile
Andersen - March of the Two Left Feet
Walton - Crown Imperial March
Elgar - Enigma Variations, Variation XIV, (EDU)
Sousa - Stars and Stripes Forever
Pops and Pre-Tour Concert, which will be the final regular concert of the 2015-16 season before the orchestras departure on a performance tour to the United Kingdom in June, will feature three of the orchestra's 2016 concerto competition winners, Music Director and Conductor David Ramadanoff and 95 young musicians in a program of Bartok, Forsyth, Khachaturian, musical highlights from the season of Bernstein's Candide Overture and Elgar's Enigma Variations, Walton's Crown Imperial March, and popular music of Anderson, Strauss Jr., and Sousa.
Each season, YPSO offers all members who have been in the orchestra for at least one full season the opportunity to enter the Concerto Competition to compete for the opportunity to play a concerto with the orchestra at a regular concert.
The orchestra's featured three concerto competition winners on the program will be: Jeremy Goldwasser, flute, who will play a transcription of the first movement of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto; Kayla Reagan, viola, who will play the first movement of Forsyth's Viola Concerto; and Sabrina Chern, violin, who will play the second movement of Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 1.
In the summer of 1940, Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian began working on a concerto for his friend, world-renowned violinist David Oistrakh. Written in eager anticipation of the birth of his son, Khachaturian's violin concerto is some of his most vibrant, creative writing. Oistrakh's successful premiere immediately gained the piece international attention, and in 1941 Khachaturian was awarded the Stalin Prize for it. In 1968, French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal transcribed the piece for flute; since then, it has remained in the standard repertoire for both flute and violin.
Jeremy Goldwasser, 17, is a junior at Redwood High School in Larkspur. Jeremy began playing flute at age 10. After taking lessons with Andrei Gorchov, he chose to pursue flute more seriously and quit the baseball team. Jeremy has enjoyed the ensuing seven years of music study immensely. Highlights include soloing with the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra, winning scholarships from the Marin Music Chest, performing in the San Francisco Junior Bach Festival, and mastering the ancient art of the jazz flute. In the summer of 2015, Jeremy spent six weeks intensively studying classical music and orchestral repertoire at the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina.
"The Khachaturian Concerto grabs me because, despite being such an incredible piece, it is unfamiliar to most flutists. Since it was written for violin, few flutists play it. In fact, many people consider it unacceptable for violin music to be played on a flute. In my opinion, however, playing transcriptions is exciting because it gives the music a distinct new character. Combining passionate emotional expression with virtuosic flair, it is an interesting, alluring work from start to finish," says Jeremy.
Kayla Reagan will perform the first movement of Cecil Forsyths Viola Concerto. Cecil Forsyth (1870-1941) was primarily a musicologist and didn't compose much music. His viola concerto, which premiered in 1903, is one of his most played works. My private teacher, Jodi Levitz, suggested this piece to me as a college audition piece. I am very happy that Jodi picked this piece out for me; the opportunity to explore the more rarely played realm of viola concertos has been a lot of fun for me, says Kayla.
Kayla Reagan, age 17, is a senior at Saint Marys College High School in Berkeley, and this is her fourth season with YPSO. Kayla is YPSOs principal violist; she has also served as principal violist for the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival (BAYOF) in January 2016 at Davies Symphony Hall. She has, most notably, played under the batons George Cleve, David Ramadanoff, Joana Carneiro, John Nelson, Carl Topilow, and Alasdair Neale. Kayla has played with professional ensembles such as The Berkeley Symphony and The Midsummer Mozart Festival. She has played in halls such as Severance Hall, Weill Hall-Green Music Center, Warner Concert Hall, Zellerbach Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, and Carnegie Hall.
She has participated in master classes with Stephen Shipps, Marilyn McDonald, Helen Callus, Stephen Clapp, members of the Telegraph String Quartet, and the Arianna String Quartet.
Kayla currently studies with Jodi Levitz, chair of the strings and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In the fall of 2016, Kayla will attend the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and will study under Peter Slowik, Robert H. Wheeler Professor of Viola and chair of the string department.
Sabrina Chern will perform the second movement of Bartok's First Violin Concerto. Bela Bartok composed his Violin Concerto No. 1 in 1907-08 for Stefi Geyer, a violinist whom he had fallen in love with, but she didnt return his feelings, so it wasn't published until after his death. It has two movements instead of the usual three: the first movement represented Geyer, and the second is speculated to have been a portrait of Bartok himself. "I've been trying to imagine how he might have felt writing the concerto and keep that in mind when playing the second movement. This is the first contemporary violin concerto that Ive worked on. Playing very soloistically despite the atonality has been a challenge, but I really enjoy his music and the emotions that the atonality evokes," says Sabrina.
Sabrina Chern, age 17, is a senior at the Head-Royce School in Oakland. She has studied violin for 14 years under instructors Crissa Volhontseff, Nancy Mitchell, and her current teacher James Greening-Valenzuela. Sabrina has played in various orchestras since the age of 8, and became co-concertmaster of the Berkeley Youth Orchestra in 2011 before joining YPSO. She is currently in her fifth season with YPSO, and participated on the 2012 Central Europe and 2014 New York and Boston tours. In 2014, she won YPSO's Concerto Competition and performed the first movement of Vieuxtemp's Violin Concerto No. 4. Since the 2014-15 season, she has been co-concertmaster of YPSO. In the fall of 2016, Sabrina will attend Harvard University to study bioengineering.
Each season, as part of the Pops Concert, the orchestra also honors its high school seniors with a graduation ceremony. This season, YPSO will recognize 21 high school seniors who will all attend four-year universities, including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Tufts University, Oberlin Conservatory, and Long Beach State.
After the Pops Concert, the orchestra will embark on a performance tour of the United Kingdom from June 22 to July 1 and will perform Nielsen's Helios Overture and Carmina Burana with the University of Warwick Chorus and soloists in Coventry; a second concert in Coventry with the University of Warwick Orchestra at which YPSO will perform Cavaterra's Marine Safari and Whale Watch, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Bernstein's Candide Overture and Walton's Crown Imperial March; and a final concert in London with the South East London Orchestra in performance of Cavaterra's Marine Safari and Whale Watch and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
Celebrating his 27th season as Music Director/Conductor, David Ramadanoff conducts 95 YPSO young musicians who range in age from 12 to 18, represent 38 schools, and hail from 32 Bay Area cities in eight counties.
Founded in Berkeley in 1936, YPSO is the oldest youth orchestra in California and the second oldest in the nation. The 2015-16 season is the 79th season since violinist and conductor Jessica Marcelli founded YSPO at the suggestion of Clarabelle Bell, an amateur harpist and Berkeley resident, who got the idea after hearing a youth orchestra on a trip to Portland, Oregon.
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LocationGreek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension (View)
4700 Lincoln Ave
Oakland, CA 94602
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
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