Hawaii Youth Symphony Newsletter Learn • Perform • Grow February 2015
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SAVE THESE DATES! YSI Maui Community Concert Mon., February 16, 2015, 4:00 pm Maui Arts & Cultural Center YSII Community Concert With Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus Sun., February 22, 2015, 5:00 pm Kawaiahao Church CO Community Concert Sun., March 1, 2015, 3:00 pm Ala Moana Shopping Center YSI Spring Community Concert Special Guests Conrad Tao, piano & Iggy Jang, violin Sun., April 12, 2015 4:00 pm Neil Blasidell Concert Hall
YSII/CO Spring Community Concert Sun., April 19, 2015, 4:00 pm Roosevelt High School Auditorium Academy Spring Concert Sat., April 25, 2015, 2:00 pm Kaimuki High School Auditorium YSI/YSII Aloha Concert Luncheon Special Guest: Robert Cazimero Sun., May 17, 2015, 11:30 am Hilton Hawaiian Village Alumni Chamber Music Concert Fri., June 5, 2015, 6:00 pm Hawaii State Art Museum, 2nd Floor Please check our website for updates and more information! HAWAII YOUTH SYMPHONY 1110 University Ave. Suite 200 Honolulu, HI 96826-1598 Office Open 9-5, Monday to Friday (808) 941-9706 • HiYouthSymphony.org
Celebrating 50 Years of Serving Hawaii’s Youth Through Music
Youth Symphony I to Perform Maui Concerts
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awaii Youth Symphony’s top youth orchestra, Youth Symphony I, will perform free concerts at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului on February 16 and 17, 2015. The annual concert tour aims to showcase the unique and superb musical talents of Hawaii’s finest young musicians from across the state, including those who live on Maui. These symphonic music concerts have been part of Hawaii Youth Symphony’s service to the community since the early 1980s. The tour provides an opportunity for HYS students to give back to the communities on the neighbor islands through music, while also increasing access and exposure to orchestral music for all.
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concert on President’s Day (Monday, Feb. 16, 2015, 4 pm) will showcase 101 high school student musicians, ages 14-18, from Oahu and Maui. The concert will include a performance by special guest violinist Ignace “Iggy” Jang, concertmaster of the professional Hawaii Symphony Orchestra in Honolulu. Also featured is Punahou School senior Yun Chang, who is a violinist in HYS, but will perform on George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on piano. Mahalo to our donors; our ohana and friends on Maui; and our parent volunteers & chaperones who are helping us to make this tour possible! ♫
Winter Concerts’ “Musical Gifts” a Big Hit
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his year’s Winter Concert Series was presented by First Hawaiian Bank on December 7 and 14, and featured HYS performers at all levels. The series, titled, “Musical Gifts from the Masters,” gave students the opportunity to learn nationalistic styles representing a wide range of backgrounds. Emceeing the respective concerts were Miss Hawaii USA Emma Wo and String Coordinator Charlotte Fukumoto.
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onductors Susan Ochi-Onishi and Hannah Watanabe led the Concert Orchestra in works from Russian, Spanish, and American composers; the concert began with CO’s performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s wildly exciting Dubinushka.
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outh Symphony II, led by conductors Derrick Yamane and Elton Masaki, performed the ever-popular “Moldau” movement from Bedrich Smetana’s Ma Vlast, as well as the first movement from Camille Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 5, with Keri Hui as soloist. (Hui, along with YSI soloist Ms. Shiori Kuwahara, won the solo competition at the Aloha International Piano Festival last June.) Henry Miyamura and Youth Symphony I closed out the Symphony Program concert with music from Edouard Lalo (“Le Roi d’Ys” Overture), Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Kuwahara as soloist), Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave, and Bernstein’s West Side Story.
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he second Winter Concert—performed by students in the Academy String Program and Music in the Clubhouse Program—was held at Kaimuki High School Auditorium. 129 young string players and 13 young wind/brass students played a selection of holiday and classical music to a packed house. Conducting the ensembles were Wayne Fanning (Clubhouse Band), Joan Doike (Beginning String Ensemble & String Orchestra Ensemble), Helen Fong (Intermediate String Ensemble), and Chad Uyehara (Concert String Orchestra). Congratulations to all of our performers! ♫