Young musicians take the stage this weekend: Part 2

Yesterday we introduced you to three high-school musicians who will perform in the Rochester Philharmonic League's annual Young Artists Recital, featuring the region's top musicians in the categories of male and female vocal, strings, piano, and instrumental. The Rochester Philharmonic League is the RPO's leading support organization focused on music education and fostering musical talent in young people.

Join the RPL at a free recital celebrating these young musicians at 7:30 PM on Sunday, July 12 at Kilbourn Hall in the Eastman School of Music (please note that this performance does not include the RPO). In the second part of this blog series, we will introduce you to the other musicians who will perform this weekend: David Steinhardt, classical guitar; Holden Turner, baritone; and Vivian Yu, piano. Don't miss seeing them onstage this weekend!

David Steinhardt, classical guitar
2015 YAA award: Aldridge-Tinker Scholarship for Instrumentalists
Will perform: Koyunbaba, C. Domeniconi; Asturias, I. Albeniz; Sonata for cello and guitar, R. Gnattali

David Steinhardt

As a scholarship student of Dr. Petar Kodzas at the Eastman Community Music School, David Steinhardt is studying toward honors diplomas in guitar performance and music theory. In 2013 and 2014, Steinhardt received the Eastman Community Director’s Choice Award, selected from all instruments. From age 11, he has participated in numerous competitions and festivals in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He currently holds faculty positions at the Kanack School of Music and Lyric Arts Academy, as well as teaches privately and through master classes. He recently graduated from Pittsford-Mendon High School.


Holden Turner, baritone
2015 YAA awards: Jan DeGaetani Scholarship for Vocalists and Nobel Hirsh Award for Male Vocalists
Will perform: Per La Gloria D’adorarvi, Giovanni Bononcini; Youth and Love, Ralph Vaughan Williams; El Cancion Andaluza: El Pan de Ronda, Manuel De Falla; Les Berceaux, Gabriel Faure

Holden Turner

Holden Turner recently graduated from Rush-Henrietta High School, and will be attending Ithaca College in the fall to major in music education and vocal performance. He has been studying voice with Mario Marinez since November 2014.

Q: How old were you when you started singing, and who (or what) inspired you to start?
A: I started singing at an early age but I didn't join a choir until the 4th grade. No one really inspired me to be involved in music. When I did finally join a choir, the teachers would really push me to do more so that is what really inspired me to continue on in music as a career.

Q: How did you select your repertoire for this concert?
A: The repertoire I have chosen are songs that I've learned throughout my high school career, and they all have great messages that I feel are very special.

Q: What are your favorite activities outside the practice room?
A: My activities outside of the practice room consists of more musical activity. I play percussion, and I love conducting. I had the opportunity to conduct my school orchestra at Disney World and my school choir in Boston. 

Vivian Yu, piano
YAA awards: Ness Award for Pianists and Special Award
Schedule repertoire: Preludes Op. 23, No. 4 and No. 7, Sergei Rachmaninoff

Vivian Yu

Pianist Vivian Yu will be going into her senior year at Pittsford Mendon High School this fall. As recipient of the YAA Special Award, Yu will also perform with the RPO at Temple B'rith Kodesh on July 9.

Q: How old were you when you started performing, and who (or what) inspired you to start?
A: When I was little, I had an electric keyboard and I was always intrigued by it and would play around with it every day. I began to compose music on it at age five, so my mom took me to piano lessons with Elier Suárez, who has been my piano teacher up to today. I have been growing up with music ever since and it really has changed my life. From the Junior All-Star Competitions to being able to perform with the RPO, I have learned to appreciate music and express myself through music, connect with people through music, and gain confidence in myself while discovering my own potential.

Q: What is your process for selecting repertoire?
A: I sometimes offer suggestions for my repertoire. My piano teacher always selects the very best pieces that I love and are the most suitable for me.

Q: What are your favorite activities to do outside of the practice room?
A: What I love the most is to spend time with my family and friends. There is nothing better than creating funny and lasting memories with people close to you. I also like to draw, write, and improvise music on the piano for fun. When I have time, I like to watch movies, travel, and try many different kinds of food as well.

Young musicians take the stage this weekend: Part 1

The region’s best young musicians will take the stage at Kilbourn Hall this Sunday for the annual Young Artists in Concert recital.

Now in its seventh year, the Young Artists recital features winners from the Young Artist Auditions, a scholarship competition held each spring by the Rochester Philharmonic League. The Rochester Philharmonic League is the RPO’s leading support organization focused on music education and fostering musical talent in young people. The annual Young Artist auditions draw high school musicians from a nine-country area competing for awards in the categories of male and female vocal, strings, piano, and instrumental.

The following musicians have been selected to perform at the 2015 Young Artists recital: Catherine Caton, harp; Joy Krasner, marimba; Megan Ormsbee, mezzo-soprano; David Steinhardt, classical guitar; Holden Turner, baritone; and Vivian Yu, piano. In this two-part series, we will introduce you to these young musicians to learn more about their love of music!

Don't miss seeing them in concert this Sunday, July 12 in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music at 7:30 PM. This performance is free to attend.

Catherine Caton, harp
2015 YAA awards: Helen and George Greer Instrumental Award
Will perform: Feerie: Prelude et Danse; Marcel Lucien Tournier

Catherine Caton

Catherine Caton is a harp student who has been studying under Dr. Nan Gullo Richmond Bassett for 11 years. She also studies clarinet with RPO Clarinet/Bass Clarinet Andrew Brown. She is principal harpist of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (RPYO), as well as principal clarinetist in the Spencerport High School Wind Ensemble, where she will enter her senior year this fall. She plans on pursuing music and biology in college.

Q: How old were you when you started playing harp, and who (or what) inspired you to start?
A: Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in both the harp and music in general. My oldest sister Emily is also a harpist and she got me involved in lessons when I was four. Hearing Emily practice and perform immediately grabbed my attention, and I have loved the harp ever since. She, along with my current teacher Dr. Bassett, encouraged me to perform and get involved in music at a young age.

Q: How much time do you put towards practicing?
A: On the average day, I usually practice between two and three hours. I love practicing very early in the morning before my family is up because the peace in the morning brings fresh focus to my playing. My practicing needs change based upon what I am working on, but I tend to practice in increments throughout the day starting with one session in the early morning, in the afternoon, and one before bed.

Q: Do you consider any composer to stand out from the rest?
A: Although I have many favorite composers, my absolute favorite composer to listen to is Camille Saint-Saëns. I love the variety in his compositions, but I also love how you can always tell a Saint-Saëns piece when you hear one. The works of Saint-Saëns have to power to evoke many emotions within me, which is why he is ultimately my favorite composer to listen to.

Joy Krasner, marimba
2015 YAA awards: Helen and George Greer Instrumental Award (runner-up)

Joy Krasner

Will perform: Sonata No. 1 in G Minor (Presto), J.S. Bach; Nature Boy, Clair Omar Musser

Krasner has studied percussion for seven years and has been a student of Ruth Cahn at the Eastman Community Music School for three years. She has performed in the Brighton High School Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble, Eastman percussion ensemble, Drum Joy, and the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. In the fall, she will attend Hamilton College as an English major and will continue studying percussion and performing with the orchestra and jazz ensemble.

Q: How old were you when you started playing marimba, and who (or what) inspired you to start?
A: I began studying piano at the age of four with Patricia Hanson at Eastman. While I studied piano seriously, I always enjoyed playing African drums in my free time, and eventually, I was introduced to percussion in fourth grade. I grew passionate about percussion and during my sophomore year of high school I began taking lessons with Ruth Cahn at Eastman.

Q: Do you have a favorite composition that you like to perform?
A: One of my favorite compositions to perform is Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor (the piece I will be playing!). It feels very special that I am able to interpret an artist’s composition on the marimba when I was most used to hearing and playing Bach’s pieces on the piano.

Q: Do you collaborate with other artists in the area? What other musical groups have you recently participated in?
A: Throughout the years I’ve participated in the RPYO, as well as the Eastman Drum Joy Percussion Ensemble. I also played drum set in the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra for one year. Additionally, I played in jazz groups at my high school as well as a student-made band outside of school.


Megan Ormsbee, mezzo-soprano

Megan Ormsbee

2015 YAA awards: Tessa Martin Award for Female Vocalist
Will perform: When I Have Sung My Songs, Charles Ernest; Tourjours Op. 21, No. 2, Gabriel Faure; Die Mainacht Op. 43, No. 2, Johannes Brahms

Megan Ormsbee is a senior at Pittsford Sutherland High School who sings and plays cello. She takes cello lessons from RPO Cellist Mary Ann Wukovitz and vocal lessons from Jane Gunter-McCoy.

Q: How old were you when you started singing, and who (or what) inspired you to start?
A: I started singing almost before I could speak. I heard my mother singing and playing at the piano, and I started imitating her. I was 11 when I started taking lessons with Jane Günter-McCoy.

Q: Do you collaborate with other artists in the area?
A: I am in several choirs around the area and at school. I am in my school’s concert choir, the Eastman Youth Chamber Choir, and frequently sing in both the youth and adult choirs of my church. I am also a cellist in the RPYO as well as in symphony orchestra and occasional chamber ensembles at school.

Q: Who are your favorite composers?
A: My favorite composer to listen to is probably John Williams or John Powell. I love performing Brahms’ songs because he has written so many that are for the beautiful, low register of mezzo-sopranos. While it’s not difficult to find mezzo-voiced music, Brahms is very fun to sing. I also enjoy the song Alto’s Lament, which is not classical, but it is a very humorous song that is just very fun to sing.

RPO Music Director wants to engage all

This guest essay, written by RPO Music Director Ward Stare, originally appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has profoundly shaped who I am today. I remember sitting in Eastman Theatre as a child, long before I began formal musical training, and being absolutely mesmerized by the spectrum of sounds and emotions that an orchestra could create. I would leave the hall feeling as though I had been given a glimpse into a whole new world — one of limitless possibility in which my imagination, heart, and soul were set free.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the fact that I could enjoy such magical evenings right here in Rochester was an extraordinary gift. I was inspired by what I heard … so inspired that I decided to make music my life.

Now, as music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, I am determined to ensure that every member of our community has the opportunity to enjoy that very same gift — that they too can discover the magic of live symphonic music, performed by a world-class orchestra, in their very own city.

In today's society, with ever-increasing demands on our attention and competition for our free time, orchestras must strive to be dynamic, multi-faceted sources of inspiration. Many of our efforts at the RPO — from programming concerts to connecting in new ways via digital media — are geared toward engaging the community in an effort to dispel that lingering myth that symphonic music is somehow an "elite" art form.

As I interact with people around town, I'm surprised that many say they've heard of the RPO but they haven't ever actually heard it live. We'd like to change that. This July, the orchestra and I will present 10 concerts all over the Rochester region — many of them free of charge — including the Main Street Bridge concert on the Fourth of July.

We will continue to seek and create new opportunities to share music with the community. I'd like to invite you to send us questions and comments via Facebook or Twitter (@RochesterPhil) so that we can get to know each other, share ideas, and better serve this community. Our connection to this city has been the heart and soul of the RPO for nearly 100 years, and I'm thrilled to be back home in the culturally rich atmosphere that nurtured me as a young man. With your help, it's my goal to make the RPO a source of pride, joy and inspiration for every Rochesterian.

Ithaca College professor named new RPYO Music Director

Dr. James Mick

The Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (RPYO) has named Dr. James Mick, an assistant professor of music education at Ithaca College, as the orchestra’s new music director. Mick is only the fourth person to hold the position of music director in the RPYO’s 45-year history. He follows former RPYO Music Director Dr. David Harman, who retired at the end of the 2013-14 season after 21 years of service.

“I am deeply honored and delighted to have the opportunity to carry on the rich culture and traditions of the RPYO that David Harman has spent so many years cultivating,” said Mick, who served as guest conductor at the RPYO’s 2014-15 season finale concert in May. “I am excited to have the opportunity to make music with the talented members of the RPYO as they are introduced to and perform some of the greatest musical works ever written.”

The RPYO is a symphonic orchestra comprised of more than 100 of the most accomplished middle- and high-school musicians from over 30 schools in the greater Rochester area. Musicians are admitted through annual auditions each spring, and the orchestra performs three concerts each year (including an annual side-by-side concert with the RPO in Eastman Theatre!). The RPYO also performs in special outreach concerts, enjoys exchanges with other youth orchestras and undertakes a major tour every three years. RPYO alumni have performed in major orchestras all over the world, and current alumni can be found performing with the RPO, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra and other professional ensembles here and abroad. RPO Music Director Ward Stare is also an alumnus of the RPYO.

“Dr. Mick is a passionate music educator, experienced orchestra conductor, and active double bass performer,” said RPYO Manager Susan Basu. “Under his inspirational leadership, the RPYO will continue to provide our committed young musicians with excellent, educationally rich, and personally rewarding musical experiences.”

Mick holds degrees in music education Florida State University (Ph.D.), Ithaca College (M.M.), and Texas Christian University (B.M.E.). Outside of his academic pursuits, Mick is an avid bicyclist who enjoys spending time outdoors surrounded by nature, as well as indoors, restoring his 132-year-old downtown Ithaca home.

For more information on Dr. James Mick and the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, visit rpo.org