Online Newsletter of Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras

TEMPO

Volume XIV Winter ‘13

MCYO |

Become a Friend of MCYO! Your contribution ensures that our young musicians, regardless of financial circumstances, have access to a full orchestral experience. Par-ticipation stimulates their musicial growth and provides them with unique performance op-portunities. Donate to MCYO and become a “Friend” in one of our member clubs.

Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit Corporation and is eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributiions.

Please make checks payable to MCYO and mail your donation to:

Maryland Classic Youth OrchestrasThe Music Center at Strathmore

5301 Tuckerman LaneNorth Bethesda, MD 20852

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Find MCYO on Twitter and Facebook!

MCYO Staff and Board of Directors Staff

Executive Director...............Cheryl Jukes Operations Manager.................John Park Artistic Director...................Jonathan Carney Associate Executive Director...Christine Cox Accountant.................................Julie Hamre

ConductorsDavid Levin, Jorge Orozco, MaryAnn Poling, Kristofer Sanz, Julie Savignon

Chamber Ensemble DirectorsAlbert Hunt, Carolyn Oh, Janese Sampson, Monika Vasey

ManagersFrancisco Cosio-Marron, Anna Davy, Linda Fong, Ben Kepler, Elizabeth Peterson, Holley Trittipoe

Board of Directors Chair......................................Bill Ford Vice Chair..................................David Phillips Secretary................................Mike Lemov Treasurer....................................Denise Miller

Directors-at-LargeErica Bondarev, Jerry Breslow, Bette Eberly-Hill,

Lucy Freeman, Helene Granof, Doris Margolis, Jamie Schneider

Tempo Newsletter mcyo.org

Concert Program Advertising 2012-13 Seasons!!

Advertising in the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras program booklets is a great way to show your support for youth arts in our area. There will be three concerts this year, with a distribution of approximately 1,500 programs each time:

Concert Dates: May 19

SUBMISSION DEADLINES ARE FOUR (4) WEEKS PRIOR TO CONCERT DATE!

Download Ad Form

Contents | MCYO

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Table of Contents

2 Frequently Asked Questions

3 Conductors’ Musings

6 Alumni News

7 Upcoming Events

8 Relive the Fall Semester

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Frequently Asked Questions | MCYO

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MCYO FAQs: Inclement Weather Policy

Please note our policy:MCYO DOES NOT automatically follow Montgomery County Public school closures. Schools may close, but if Strathmore stays open and conditions seem relatively safe and manageable, we will proceed with the regularly-scheduled rehearsals here.

Always check the MCYO website for updates: www.mcyo.org

Concert: We are watching weather forecasts carefully and plan to make any announcement on this MCYO website about possible Wednesday, March 6th, closure as soon as possible tomorrow.If the Concert scheduled for tomorrow night (for Young Artists, Symphony and Chamber Orches-tra) cannot take place because of the snow closures, a tentative reschedule date will be Monday, March 11 at 7:30 at the Music Center at Strathmore.

Please stay abreast of developments by checking the MCYO website frequently as the storm ap-proaches. Reminder: if schools close, but Strathmore stays open, the concert and rehearsals may proceed as planned. Please always check the MCYO website for updates. If Montgomery County Government announces closure of all county-run buildings, then Strathmore will automatically close and hence no concert or MCYO activities.

Sectionals: if the Bindeman Center closes, then all those scheduled to go there would come to Strathmore instead for full rehearsal.

NOTE: It’s possible that Strathmore may close due to a power outage, even if schools remain open. Whenever Strathmore closes due to emergency, the usual MCYO rehears-als or activities scheduled at Strathmore are canceled.

HOW BEST TO STAY APPRISED?1. First and foremost, always check the MCYO website front page for updates and closures. If

MCYO is cancelling/closing for the night, the decision will be posted by 4:00.2. Look for an email from your orchestra manager. Try not to email or call the manager re the clo-

sure update; please wait for a message or check the MCYO website.3. Listen to WTOP radio 103.7FM for the MCYO closure announcement.4. Last resort: Check the Strathmore website or call main Strathmore number. If it says Strathmore

campus is closed, then you’ll know we cannot have MCYO. If MCYO at Strathmore is canceled, then all MCYO local activities would likely be canceled (i.e. rehearsals at churches, other loca-tions)

5. ALWAYS check MCYO website first for the most complete closure info which will be posted by 4pm.

MCYO | Conductors ’ Musings

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From Jorge Orozco, Conductor of Preparatory Strings and Chamber Strings

Rising the Bar What can make a group of young students pro-duce music at unexpected quality levels? How do we go from basic student repertoire to higher levels of musicianship and technique? My answer to those questions is high expectations. One of my greatest experiences in Venezuela was to witness how youth orchestras in remote areas, away from big cities, were capable of performing a Tchaikovsky or Beethoven symphony with a great deal of musicianship while individual musicians in the group were not really showing a high level of what we call instrumental technique. I was very well trained academically and I could not understand why students that were not ca-pable of playing very well etudes or scales individual-ly were at the same time able to bring these big pieces of the orchestral repertoire back to life, sometimes in a breathtaking manner. It took me some time to un-derstand the power of expectations. Those young stu-dents and their teachers and conductors were basical-ly convinced that everything was possible. They were not interested in learning about the limits of their possibilities. Me and other fellow teachers that were brought from other countries to Venezuela to cover the technical aspect of music training were many times in disagreement with the choices of orchestral repertoire made by our Venezuelan colleagues. I still believe that many of those choices were far beyond the possibilities of most of the students that were part of the orchestras. However, they always ended up put-ting together great performances. Finding the right repertoire is one of the most difficult tasks youth or-chestra conductors have. Expectations play of course an important role in the process of choosing the right music for a specific group. The main challenge is to find the balance between high expectations and what the orchestra can really do, keeping in mind that even with the greatest expectations youth orchestras are formed by young students with many different levels of experience. This is the challenge that the team of musicians/teachers working with Preparatory Strings and Chamber Strings take every season. We are hon-

ored to work with these talented groups, their fami-lies, and their private teachers. Our goal is to keep raising the bar while making the orchestra a reward-ing musical experience for all students involved.

From MaryAnn Poling, Conductor of Young Artists

Mahler 1

For this concert the Young Artists are playing the third movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony #1, in a Meyer arrangement. Listeners will immediately no-tice the “Frère Jacques” theme—but also notice that there’s something off about it. Critics certainly did when Mahler premiered the piece; they found nothing to love in the dirge-like quality of this theme that is picked up in a round by the entire orchestra at the beginning of the movement and returned to at the end. By shifting this happy children’s melody into a minor key, and slowing it down considerably, Mahler produces a profoundly unsettling effect upon the listener. Mahler himself indicated that this movement was inspired by a popular children’s illustration, a wood-cut by Moritz Von Schwind entitled “The Hunter’s Funeral Procession.” Von Schwind’s woodcut [at-tached] portrays a funeral procession in which wood-land creatures bear the body of a fallen hunter, his gun atop the shroud. The animals who might have been the hunter’s victims bear a dignified mien, while the predators in the picture—the wolf, the stoat, the fox—dab their eyes with oversized handkerchiefs.Music historians have found two potential points of resonance with this illustration in Mahler’s own life. One is vegetarianism, which Mahler practiced on and off. The other is Mahler’s Jewish identity. It may be significant that German children would have known “Frère Jacques” as “Bruder Martin.” So if

Conductors ’ Musings | MCYO

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Mahler thought of this “Bruder Martin” as the vio-lently anti-Semitic Martin Luther, then we may find in the third movement of his First Symphony a sub-versive protest against the man whose influence was certainly felt in Mahler’s own encounters with anti-Semitism in late 19th century Austrian culture.

From David Levin, Conductor of Symphony

At last the March Concert is almost upon us. Needless to say the Symphony musicians have been working diligently preparing the music to present March 6. This program will take the listener through almost 2 centuries and 3 styles of music composi-tion. The Overture to “La Belle Helene” was writ-ten in the mid 1800’s as part of the French “opera bouffe”. The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, by the French composer, Claude Debussy, was originally written for piano during the period of impressionism in the early 20th century. Imagine that Debussy created this work based on his musical “impression” of Charles Leconte de Lisle’s Poemes Antiques entitled “Helene”. Returning to the 19th century is the well known com-position by Modeste Mussorgsky, A Night on Bald Mountain. This tone poem is inspired by “ a story by Nikolai Gogol, that related the Russian legend of a witches’ Sabbath, believed to occur on a barren mountaintop each year on St. John’s Night, near the summer solstice. Finally, a modern arrangement of a the well known 16th century English Traditional tune, Greensleeves. Alfred Reed, a highly regarded composer and arranger from University of Miami,

penned this version for both band and symphony orchestra. I must tell everyone what a joy it has been to select and work with the musicians in the MCYO Sym-phony. They come to rehearsal each week ready for the challenges presented to them and seem genuinely enthusiastic in their efforts to master the music set before them. Although I knew they were a talented group of musicians from the outset, they have grown immensely in their musical abilities as well as their appreciation of the music of many of our greatest composers. As my tenure this year with the Sym-phony comes to a close I want to express my deepest appreciation for the students’ hard work, their par-ents’ support, and especially the private teachers and MCYO coaches who worked with the musicians to help prepare for this month’s concert. Finally, a quick note about the Europe tour that many of our musicians, from 4 MCYO orchestras, have elected to join this year. I am thrilled to have such a fine group of musicians willing and able to be a part of MCYO’s touring orchestra again. We will be performing as a chamber orchestra, presenting compositions by Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and several other more contemporary composers. They are working hard and will still be working hard to prepare for this year’s tour even though our March concerts are just around the corner and most of them have All-State music to learn. Everyone is eagerly awaiting our departure for Belgium and the Neth-erlands with thoughts of great music, forming new acquaintances, and making wonderful discoveries in that part of the continent.

MCYO | Conductors ’ Musings

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From Kristofer Sanz, Conductor of Philharmonic

Only four short weeks ago Philharmonic em-barked on the unprecedented journey of preparing two of the most passionate and musical scores ever written. Madama Butterfly /Miss Saigon is a first of its kind production that combines the two lush scores of Puccini and Schoenberg into one heart wrenching story told from two unique perspectives. The Phil-harmonic has spent countless hours perfecting these two contrasting scores and has been challenged both technically and emotionally. Through our rigorous rehearsal process the Philharmonic has been able to create many different moods and orchestral colors while at the same time learning how to carry the listener’s emotions through the long and hard journey of one woman’s ultimate sacrifice for her child. This concert rotation focuses on a different style of music and playing than the Philharmonic is used to doing for their concerts. We have spent much time in rehearsal not only preparing the music but also taking time to discuss and fully understand the dif-ferent roles an orchestra can play. Through this open discourse we have realized how emotionally power-ful playing vocal music can actually be! Any time one adds the human voice to the awesome power of a full symphonic orchestra, a new “organic,” living and breathing creature is created. With the addi-tion of the voices and emotions of living, breathing souls, the orchestra is no longer bound to strictly instrumental notes and rhythms but instead is part of a symbiotic relationship which truly allows music to be understood on a more passionate level. To quote Frederico Cortese, Music Director of the Boston Youth Symphony: “The performance of [opera] by

a youth orchestra is an absolutely remarkable and rare accomplishment. Opera is a fantastic tool for the musical and personal growth of our students because of the rich and intricate musical and psychological storylines that weave in and out of the music in ways that are not seen in a standard symphony.” As an educationally focused organization, it is MCYO’s goal to provide our student musicians with the most com-plete orchestral training possible. The one area that is always overlooked is that of working in collabora-tion with vocalists and more specifically exposing our students to Operatic repertoire. This experience and performance plans to be a once in a lifetime experi-ence for our Philharmonic musicians, and we are very excited that we are able to provide our musicians with this amazing and emotionally fulfilling opportunity.

From Julie Savignon, Conductor of Chamber Orchestra

It’s been a productive couple of months since our December concert! As we approach our next concert I can look back and see just how much music, hard work and fun we’ve packed into what feels like a short

Afghan Youth Orchestra Collaboration!

As part of a cultural exchange, Afghanistan sent one of its educational success stories (National Institute of Music- ANIM, Afghan Youth Orchestra) to the U.S. for a tour in February. 15 of MCYO String players performed with the Afghan young musicians at the Kennedy Center on Feb 7. This was a great fun and rewarding experience for both youth orchestras and all the audience members. Check out all the articles regarding this event on our website. Pictures are on Page 8-9.

Conductors ’ Musings | MCYO

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time. Music has a way of making us forget about the time, but never the time signature, of course! I chose the program for our next performance after collecting suggestions from members of CHA. The students had many great ideas! I then settled on a diverse and challenging program which will include Mendelssohn’s String Symphony # 10, “ Lark As-cending” by Vaughan-Williams and a surprise com-poser from South America. This concert will feature Ben Hoyt as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra. Ben is this year’s MCYO concerto competition winner and he will perform the stunningly beautiful work by Vaughan Williams lead by our Artistic Director, Jonathan Carney. We were priviliged to have a visit from members of the New Century Chamber Orchestra a few weeks ago. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and some of her col-leagues, came into our rehearsal to hear us play the Mendelssohn symphony and stayed on to give many useful tips on how to be an active chamber ensemble player. (I was personally thrilled to stand beside Na-dja, as I have accompanied her numerous times from the orchestra and she was a childhood hero of mine!) Their advice was priceless and particularly spot on as they too were performing the very same piece (Men-delssohn Symphony X) that evening at Strathmore! What a stroke of luck for us and what a privilege it

was to play for them! Several members of CHA also participated in the concert at the Kennedy Center with the young or-chestra from Afghanistan, ANIM. I had an opportu-nity to hear a rehearsal with the ensemble and then meet some of ANIM’s youngest and most promising students. Talking to them and hearing them play with great enthusiasm reminded me of what a joy it is to make music and how we must never take this for granted. In the midst of difficulty and disarray, mak-ing music can be a refuge like no other. We have already started to read through works for our May program! Doing this reminds us of all the good work we’ve put into our final product. We hope you enjoy our concert and look forward to seeing you on March 6th at Strathmore!

Alumni News - Landon (Eric) Johnson: Bassoon - MCYO 1970-1973

I was in the MCYO junior orchestra in the early seventies. There were so many opportunities during those days – I played also with the Montgomery County Band, under the direction of Gilbert Muir and Bennett Arthur, and in the Maryland Youth Symphony under Angelo Gatto. There was also the “Thursday Night Band” under Robert C. Lewis, and the DC Police Boys’ Club Band under Leonard Brusiloff. I was a bassoon player, spent time in 1st, 2nd and 3rd chair. Had a guy next to me, John Patow, who used to take my reeds and drop them down my instrument at the most inopportune times!Although the Bassoon and I have amicably parted ways decades ago, I still retain the teamwork and ability to listen to this day. I am still active in music (I write and record popular music) and I credit the groups I played with back then with much of the success I have enjoyed in my 50 years. My high school guidance counselors talked me out of going into a symphony after graduation. I had some connections, knew most of the ‘right people’ etc. but ultimately chose a career in engineering; now I am the dean of Trades and Technology at a career school in York PA. Looking back, that was a fork in the road. I took the road that led to more money, but now, if I had to do it all over again I would pick being happy and playing music for a living. I am so happy that the Youth Symphony is still going – these kids won’t know what you’ve done for them until years down the road, but please keep on doing it!

MCYO | Upcoming Events!

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Upcoming Events at MCYO!• March 6: March Masterworks featuring MCYO Young Artists, Symphony, Chamber Orchestra 7:30PM at the Music Center at Strathmore, Concert Hall MCYO is presenting the MCYO Violin Concerto Competition winner Benjamin Hoyt, performing Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, conducted by BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney.

• March 10: MADAMA BUTTERFLY & MISS SAIGON! 4:00PM at the Music Center at Strathmore, Concert Hall MCYO March Concert for Philharmonic Orchestra and Young Artists of America (YAA) Presenting MADAMA BUTTERFLY & MISS SAIGON one heart-wrenching story, told from two unique perspectives

MADAMA BUTTERFLY & MISS SAIGON is a never-before-seen concept that brings together both iconic scores into one performance to tell the story that they share about an orphaned girl who falls in love with an American soldier and gives the ultimate sacrifice of her life so that their child can grow up in America. The semi-staged and fully costumed performance takes place on the concert stage at The Music Center at Strathmore. The performance will feature the MCYO Philharmonic Orchestra, made up of 85 of the best student instrumentalists from the Metro DC area, and over 50 student and professional vocalists from Young Artists of America. The production will be directed by Shakespeare Theater’s Alan Paul. No photography or recording is permitted due to copyright laws. A videographer will be recording the show. DVDs can be ordered day of show at sales table in promenade lobby.

Purchase March 6th and March 10th Concert Tickets from Strathmore Ticket Office: 301-581-5100 or ONLINE.

• March 16: Masterworks for March featuring MCYO Preparatory Strings, Chamber Strings, Harp Ensemble 7:00PM at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew. 15300 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD. MCYO is presenting MCYO’s Preparatory Strings, Chamber Strings and the Harp Ensemble. Come join us and hear the area’s premier youth orchestra and tomorrow’s musical stars!!

KUDOS to MCYO Musicians!

Each season, we put on our website, winners of competitions, special achievements and All-State/All-County results for all our MCYO musicians. Be SURE to check our website for all these awesome achievements and PLEASE share these with us so we can keep this page updated.

CLICK to check this Season’s Listing!

Busy MCYO Musicians | MCYO

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MCYO | Relive the Winter Semester

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MCYO PHOTOS Here are some of the photos from Winter 2012-13.

December 9: Evening Concert

Dec 19: Prep Strings Concert Feb 27: Master Class with Elena UriosteAfghan Youth Orchestra Collaboration Pictures

Thanks to Michelle Drumheller!

Relive the Winter Semester | MCYO

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Founded in 1946, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras is the oldest, largest and most established youth orchestra program in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

MCYO not only enriches the community with quality orchestra experiences but “nurtures and develops young talented musicians” by offering three full orchestras, one chamber orchestra, two string orchestras and additional chamber ensembles. Ranging in grades 3-12, over 450 talented musicians from around

the region participate each season.

For additional information, contact the MCYO administrative offices (301) 501-5208 or 5209

We always add pictures to our Flickr page, click HERE to view.

MCYO proudly acknowledges financial sponsorship by the following contributors. • Individual Contributors • Board of Directors • Strathmore Hall Foundation • Maryland State Arts Council • Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County • The Trawick Foundation • Joseph & Ligia Wiegand Family Foundation • The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation • Lockheed Martin Corporation • Washington Gas & Light Company • Washington Post Company • Montgomery Alliance for Community Giving • The United Way and America’s Charities • Carolyn and Jeffrey Leonard Tuition Scholarship Fund • The Joseph and Rosalind Shifrin Guest Artists Fund • Andreas and Margaret Makris Scholarship Fund • AT&T • IBM • COSTCO

MCYO gratefully acknowledges our major funders: