KALEIDOSCOPE OF TECHNICAL PROWESS ON DISPLAY FOR
PACIFIC SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA’S FINAL CONCERT FEATURING RESPIGHI’S ARRESTING “PINES OF ROME”
PSYO spotlights three Concerto Competition winners
Orange County, Calif. Talented and inspiring young musicians of Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) demonstrate their artistry in a performance of Respighi’s alluring “Pines of Rome,” a shimming portrait of the trees and fountains of the city, for their final concert of the 2011-12 season. Led by Music Director Maxim Eshkenazy, the concert features the three soloists who won PSYO’s 2011 Concerto Competition, Ian Striedter (trombone), David Chang (violin) and Chloe Hong (cello), performing concertos by Grøndahl, Mendelssohn and Dvorák, respectively. Taking place on Sunday, May 13, at 7 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, tickets are $18 general admission (without reserved seating), $30 Box Circle. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.
“Our final performance will be very heart-warming,” says Melissa Craig, director of youth ensembles. “It’s our annual recognition of graduating seniors as well as three Concerto Competition soloists. We are highlighting our concerto performers’ artistic excellence as representatives of the many quality musicians we have in PSYO. The ensemble this season has held up to their usual standard of excellence. They always meet a challenge head-on and never cease to succeed.”
The program begins with Striedter performing the upbeat and jazzy Trombone Concerto by Grøndahl, followed by Chang’s rendition of the third movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, one of the composer’s most popular and frequently performed pieces. Cellist Hong then shines as she performs the final movement of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto, filled with longing and haunting beauty. The concert concludes with Respighi’s second of a trio of famous orchestral poems on Italian subjects, “Pines of Rome.”
“I have been working on Grøndahl’s Trombone Concerto now for over a year and a half,” says Concerto Competition winner Striedter. “The piece captivated me from the first time I heard it and it just hasn’t let go. Grøndahl’s incredibly challenging and beautiful concerto combines musicality and technicality extremely well. It carries the listener on an intense journey of darkness and light, aggression and tenderness, confidence and sorrow, and countless other emotions that only music can describe.”
Serving as the principal trombone for PSYO, Striedter began his first musical studies at the age of 5 by joining the Southern California Children’s Chorus, where he continued singing until the age of 10. He first discovered the trombone in a fifth-grade band class at Turtle Rock Elementary School and quickly fell in love with the instrument. He currently attends University High School in Irvine and has participated in All-Southern, All-State and All-National honor groups. He plans to continue studying music in college.
“Thanks in large part to the inspiring nature of my experiences in PSYO, I will be attending the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University for my Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance,” says Striedter.
Co-Concertmaster Chang began his violin studies at age 12, and since has won the VOCE music competition, the IKPA competition and has received numerous awards in the Southern Youth Music Festival. Under the guidance of his teacher, Margaret Batjer, concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, he gained the opportunity to participate in many summer music festivals and master classes. In 2008, he was soloist with the All-Southern Middle School Honor Orchestra and also performed many times in the Irvine Unified School District honor’s music concerts.
Co-Principal Cellist Hong began her musical journey at the age of 5 playing piano, and by the age of 8 had moved on to cello. Her first solo debut was at the concert “Young Stars of the Future” in 2008 at the age of 11 with the South Coast Symphony. In the same year, she performed with the Montecito Youth Orchestra for the Montecito Music Summer Festival, followed by a third concert, the “Festival of Music,” with the Torrance Symphony Orchestra in 2009, where she performed the Haydn Cello Concerto. In 2010, she received the top prize in the Edith Knox Performance Competition and had the opportunity to perform the full movement of the Elgar Cello Concerto as a soloist with the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra. Hong has performed in Kennedy Hall at Washington, D.C., as well as in New York’s renowned Carnegie Hall with her Junior Chamber Music trio.
“Before I came to PSYO, I was used to performing by myself or in small ensemble groups such as trios or quartets. In an orchestra, you have to play with 50 plus musicians, and PSYO helped me learn how to communicate, listen and perform with others,” says Hong.
PSYO is one of three Youth Ensembles programs offered by Pacific Symphony, which also includes Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble and Pacific Symphony Santiago Strings. Founded in 1993, PSYO has emerged as the premier training orchestra of Orange County, consisting of some of the most talented young musicians (ages 13-18) in the area. The year 2011 marked PSYO’s inaugural tour to Bulgaria—Maestro Eshkenazy’s home country. This 10-day, three-concert tour took the orchestra to Sofia, Varna and Plovdiv where they played three standing-room-only performances. Under the artistic direction and guidance of Pacific Symphony’s Music Director Carl St.Clair, PSYO is quickly being recognized as one of the most outstanding youth orchestras in the country.
