Sunday, April 29, 2001
Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra and Tiny Tot Concerts take center stage at Powers Auditorium this week.
Today at 4 p.m. members of the youth orchestra directed by Stephen Gage present their third and final concert of the season.
Composed of 86 pupils, representing more than 20 school districts in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Northern Ohio and communities in Western Pennsylvania, youth orchestra members meet each Monday during the school year to rehearse and to learn skills necessary to perform as an orchestral ensemble.
On the program: Assisted by Michele Vari, who also acts as string coach, the youth orchestra will perform Elgar's Enigma Variations No. 9 "Nimrod" and Nelhybel's "Mighty Fortress," to be accompanied by the Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra Alumni Brass Choir.
Dana School of Music graduate students also serve as woodwind and brass coaches for the youth orchestra. Woodwind coach Ryan Hays will conduct the youth orchestra chamber winds in Gounod's "Petite Symphony," and brass coach Robert Seebacher will conduct the youth orchestra brass choir in the Rozsa "Hail Nero" Triumphal March arranged by Clifford Barnes at today's concert.
Music Director Isaiah Jackson will make a guest appearance conducting the Allegro movement of Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, also known as the "Unfinished Symphony."
Young musicians: Each year area music pupils audition for youth orchestra, and 12th-grade students are invited to participate in the orchestra's concerto competition. Concerto winners perform during one of the youth orchestra concerts presented during the season. At today's concert, Heather Young, flutist, Sara Neal, violinist, and Lisa Garr, violist, will perform. Young, a senior student at Lakeview High School, will perform Telemann's Suite in A Minor for Flute and String Orchestra. She is the daughter of Kenneth and Martha Young.
A student at Boardman High School and daughter of John and Kathleen Neal, Neal performs the Fritz Kreisler Praeludium and Allegro.
Garr, also a student at Boardman High School, performs Concerto for Viola by Handel. Garr is the daughter of Michael Greenfield.
Symphonettes: The Youngstown Symphony Symphonettes, led by Michele Vari and assisted by Allison Harris, will open today's program with Del Borgo's Concert Piece for Strings and Sonatine in G, "The Cider House Rules" arranged by Moore, Beethoven's "F & uuml;r Elise" arranged by Gruselle, "I Will Follow" arranged by Jennings, "On Broadway" arranged by Lavender, and "Alla Tchaikovsky" arranged by Meyer. Accompanists for the Symphonettes are pianist Karen Lynn Fisher and percussionist Melissa Michalko. Student assistants are Jessie Mulichak and Janna Skubiak.
The Symphonette program is open to area string pupils in grades five, six and seven with one year's private string instrument instruction.
Irene Loser, youth orchestra president, will recognize graduating students during the concert, and the Youngstown Symphony Guild will award the Garnet Klepfer Scholarship to an outstanding student. Tickets for the concert are available at the Symphony Center box office today. After the concert, the symphony society and youth orchestra board members will have a reception for members of the youth orchestra and Symphonettes and their families.
Tiny Tot Concerts: On May 1 and 2, preschool and kindergarten children and their parents, grandparents, school instructors and aides are invited to attend Tiny Tot Concerts at Powers Auditorium.
The Youngstown Symphony String Quartet presents "Animal Serenade," a program to enchant and educate small children with musical tales of waltzing cats, tweeting birds, trotting horses and ambling elephants. Music by composers Antonio Vivaldi, Leroy Anderson and Henry Mancini will help String Quartet members Calvin Lewis, Susan Brenneis-Fisher, Jocelyn Smith and Peter Greydanus demonstrate the ability of their string instruments to mimic animal sounds and depict animal stories.
Tiny Tot Concerts are presented at 9:30 and 10:45 a.m. both days and are performed on the stage. For the convenience of Tiny Tot Concert attendees only, Chestnut Street will be closed to through traffic for concert parking. Those wishing to take advantage of this parking area are advised to enter it via Commerce Street.
For additional information and reservations, call the representative for the Women's Committee for Children's Concerts, Jean Reynolds, at (330) 726-6149.
XPatricia C. Syak is executive director of the Youngstown Symphony Society.