Concerto Competition winner Abby Young will perform with the Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon this month. (DeVore Photography)Rogue Valley audiences will have three opportunities to hear the region's young classical musicians perform next weekend. This year 185 students between the ages of 8 and 23 (the majority between the ages of 8 and 18) are participating in the Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon, a nonprofit educational and cultural organization serving Medford, Ashland, Grants Pass and the surrounding communities.
The three ensembles of the Youth Symphony will present their winter concerts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, at the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center, 830 N.E. Ninth St., Grants Pass; at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford; and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, at the Music Recital Hall, Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland.
Since 1990 YSSO has held an annual Concerto Competition to select advanced YSSO musicians to perform as soloists with the Youth Symphony. This year's winter concerts will feature 2006 Concerto Competition winner Abby Young as the violin soloist in a performance of the Violin Concerto in G minor by Max Bruch.
Young is a junior at Ashland High School. She has participated in the Youth Symphony since 1998 and is currently its co-concertmaster. Young comes from a musical family. She began piano studies at the age of 3 and violin study at age 4. She studied privately with Kendra Law for eight years and has studied with Faina Podolnaya, her current teacher, for four years.
The Youth Symphony also will perform Peter Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave" and will premiere a new work composed by Mark Jacobs that was commissioned by YSSO.
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Cynthia Hutton is YSSO's music director and is celebrating her 12th season with the orchestra. She is conductor of the Youth Symphony and Youth Orchestra.
Faina Podolnaya, YSSO associate conductor, is in her seventh year with the YSSO as conductor of Youth Strings.
The Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon came about because a group of music teachers and members of the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra wanted to offer classical music performance and training opportunities to young musicians. They saw the value of having young musicians work with professionals.
YSSO's first concert was held in Ashland in 1988. Since then, conductors have included Clarence Shaw, Arthur Shaw, Fred Palmer, Sylvain Fremaux and Leanna Sterios.
In 2000, YSSO received the Southern Oregon Arts Council's Award for Arts Education in recognition of its music education programs and high artistic standards.
Tickets for the concerts are $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at Paddington Station, Ashland and at Larry's Music in Medford and Grants Pass. Tickets for the Feb. 24 performance in Medford are also available through the Craterian Theater box office at 779-3000.
See www.ysso.org or call 858-8859.
A chamber music series began in 2001-2002. The YSSO's current season of 14 concerts also includes performances at the Rogue Valley Manor retirement community.
The YSSO's three ensembles: Youth Strings (entry-level), Youth Orchestra (intermediate) and Youth Symphony (advanced), offer a natural framework for mentoring so that students can learn from each other and develop skills as they move from the entry level to the intermediate and advanced ensembles.
Students audition in September. Rehearsals take place on Sunday from September through May. In addition to regular two-hour rehearsals, approximately 12 90-minute intensive sectional rehearsals led by professional musicians for string, woodwind, brass and percussion sections are scheduled for Youth Symphony and Youth Orchestra musicians. Additional rehearsals are scheduled for Chamber Music Series ensembles.
