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Event
Young People's Symphony Orchestra Concerto Concert 2012
The Young People's Symphony Orchestra (YPSO) 2012 Concerto Concert on February 11 and 12 will feature music director/conductor David Ramadanoff, the three winners of the orchestra's concerto competition, and 100 young musicians.
Program
Adams - Lollapalooza
Boieldieu - Harp Concerto in C Major, Madeline Olson, harp
Grieg - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Michelle Zhang, piano
Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, June Park, violin
Barber - Symphony No. 1
The Young People's Symphony Orchestra (YPSO) 2012 Concerto Concert on February 11 and 12 will feature music director/conductor David Ramadanoff, three winners of the orchestra's concerto competition, and 100 young orchestra musicians. The program will feature John Adams' Lollapalooza, François-Adrien Boieldieu's Harp Concerto in C Major, Madeline Olson, harp; Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Michelle Zhang, piano; Serge Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, June Park, violin; and Samuel Barber's Symphony No. 1.
Over the past 25 years, Pulitzer Prize winning composer and Berkeley resident John Adams's music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of contemporary musical aesthetics away from academic modernism and toward a more expansive, expressive language, entirely characteristic of his New World surroundings. He wrote Lollapalooza in 1995 as a 40th birthday present for his friend and collaborator, Simon Rattle, conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. John Adams says of the piece: The term "lollapalooza" suggests something large, outlandish, oversized, not unduly refined. H.L. Mencken suggests it may have originally meant a knockout punch in a boxing match. I was attracted to it because of its internal rhythm: da-da-da-DAAH-da. Hence, in my piece, the word is spelled out in the trombones and tubas, C-C-C-Eb-C (emphasis on the Eb) as a kind of ideé fixe. The "lollapalooza" motive is only one of a profusion of other motives, all appearing and evolving in a repetitive chain of events that moves this dancing behemoth along until it ends in a final shout by the horns and trombones and a terminal thwack on timpani and bass drum." Listen to an excerpt of the piece here on Adams's Web site: http://earbox.com/W-lollapalooza.html.
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 one movement of a concerto with the orchestra at a regular concert. The competition's judges are Ramadanoff, YPSO Executive Director Wendy Howe, and Oakland School for the Arts music teacher and conductor Omid Zoufonoun.
Madeline Olson, age 16, principal harpist for YPSO, began to study harp at age eight and currently studies with Linda Wood Rollo and Laura Porter. Madeline has enjoyed wide and varied harp performance experiences including the privilege of performing with the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra in 2005 and as a finalist in Valleyʼs Got Talent! 2010 at the Gallo Center for the Performing Arts. Also in 2010, she won first prize in the Emerging Artist Division as well as the Fatrock Ink Special Prize at the Young Artist Harp Competition; performed with the Gold Medal winning combined Napa Valley Youth Symphony/Modesto Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) at the Los Angeles International Music Festival at Disney Hall; and helped raise money for the Red Cross by playing in The Young Musicians for Haiti Concert. In 2011, Madeline won the MSYO Concerto Competition; placed third in her division of the LaVonne Schwager Competition; placed fifth in the American Harp Society National Competition; and performed at the 11th World Harp Congress Focus on Youth Program in Vancouver. Madeline was the guest artist on Golden Boughʼs CD When Winter Comes.
Michelle Zhang is a 15-year old sophomore at Alameda High School. She has studied piano with Kent Tchii for 10 years and studied violin with Robin Revelli for 10 years, too. This is her fourth year as a YPSO violinist. She has participated in and won several Memorial Scholarship Foundation competitions at the Berkeley Piano Club and has won the Holy Names University Preparatory Music Department's Concerto Competition and played with HNU's orchestra. She has attended the Certificate of Merit evaluations for the past five years and successfully completed Advanced level. She plans on auditioning for the chance to perform in the Certificate of Merit's convention in the Panel Honors Winners Concert.
June Park, 17, is a senior at Piedmont High School. Falling in love with the violin at age six, she has continued her passion for eleven years and currently studies with Li Lin. Of the four seasons she has been a part of Young People's Symphony Orchestra, she spent two years as the assistance concertmaster and this year as the concertmaster. During the past four summers, June participated in Youth Music International, an international music exchange program held interchangeably in Oxford, UK and San Francisco, U.S., in which she enjoyed playing both violin and viola. She has won numerous music competitions including the U.S. Open Music Competition, California State VOCE, Junior Bach, and Etude Club both as a soloist and as a part of chamber ensembles. When not practicing the violin, June enjoys competing in FIRST robotics, working in science labs, and taking photographs.
The Sunday, February 12 concert will be a free community outreach event. School children and senior citizens are especially encouraged to come to this special afternoon performance.
Celebrating his 23rd season as Music Director/Conductor, David Ramadanoff conducts 100 YPSO musicians who range in age from 12 to 21 and hail from 28 Bay Area cities in six counties.
Founded in Berkeley in 1935, YPSO is the oldest youth orchestra in California and the second oldest in the nation. 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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LocationFirst Congregational Church of Berkeley (View)
2345 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 5 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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