Three Watertown Musicians Performing with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras

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Three Watertown musicians will perform with theBoston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) during the organization’s spring concert at Symphony Hall, and one will be traveling to Germany to perform. 

The performers from Watertown are:

Name, City, State, Age, Instrument

Alexander Feltner Harrison, Watertown, MA, 17, Cello
Julia Greim, Watertown, MA, 17, Viola
Joseph MacDonald, Watertown, MA, 14, Violin *

* Denotes that student is performing with Leipzig Choirs in this April 29 Concert at Symphony Hall

The BYSO sent out the following information:

The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras celebrates its 60th anniversary during the 2017-18 season. The mission and vision remains much the same as when Dr. Marvin Rabin started the (Greater) Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra in
1958: to encourage musical excellence in a professional and supportive environment by providing the highest quality orchestra training and performance opportunities to qualified musicians, grades K-12, while making its programs
accessible to underserved communities through financial assistance and outreach.

At its founding in 1958, BYSO was a single orchestra of 80 young players. Today, it is one of the country’s most highly regarded youth orchestra programs, an organization at the vanguard of music education that serves over 600 students each year.

On April 29, 2018 at 3:30 p.m. at Symphony Hall in Boston, many of BYSO’s young musicians will have the opportunity to perform in a joint concert with choral students from Leipzig, Germany as part of an international exchange and in honor of BYSO’s 60th anniversary season. The week leading up to the April 29th concert, BYSO will host the Leipzig choirs for this special celebration as part of a new international residency and exchange initiative, welcoming the Leipzig Gewandhaus Youth Choir and the Leipzig Opera Youth Choir to Boston for musical rehearsals and cultural exchange opportunities in anticipation of their joint April 29th performance under the direction of BYSO Music Director, Federico Cortese. BYSO’s 60th anniversary season will culminate with BYSO musicians traveling to Leipzig in June to perform with their youth choirs at Bachfest – the world’s foremost annual international festival focusing on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. Performances will be held in Leipzig market square and at the prestigious Gewandhaus concert hall. BYSO has traveled to over 20 foreign countries on nearly 30 national and international tours during its 60 year history.

Catherine Weiskel, BYSO’s Executive Director stated: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to create such a culturally enriching experience for our musicians both in Boston and in Leipzig. In today’s world it is ever more important to understand and experience other cultures, values and history. To gain such an experience through music making is something that will have a lasting impact on our students for the rest of their lives.”

The first phase of this exchange will be performed at Symphony Hall – within the frame of BYSO’s 60th anniversary:

Sunday, April 29 at 3:30 p.m. | Symphony Hall

Boston Youth Symphony (BYS)
Federico Cortese, Music Director and Conductor
MESSIAEN Les offrandes oubliées
COPLAND Four Motets
BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms
RAVEL Daphnis and Chloe, Suite Nos. 1 and 2
with Leipzig Gewandhaus Youth Choir and Leipzig Opera Youth Choir

Also performing:
BYSO’s Repertory Orchestra (REP)
Mark Miller, Conductor
WAGNER Overture to The Flying Dutchman
BYSO’s Young People’s String Orchestra (YPSO)
Marta Żurad, Conductor

Tickets start at $25; call Symphony Charge at 617-266-1200.

This performance is only recommended for children 5 years of age and older.
The two concerts scheduled in June in Leipzig, Germany at Bachfest with BYSO and the Leipzig Choirs are:

Friday, June 8, 2018, 8:00 p.m., Leipzig market square concert
Sunday, June 10, 2018, 6:00 p.m., Leipzig Gewandhaus concert

Students will be performing pieces by Bach, Bernstein, Copland and Mendelssohn

About Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO)
The mission of BYSO is to encourage musical excellence in a professional and supportive environment by providing the highest quality orchestra training and performance opportunities to qualified musicians, grades K-12, while making its programs accessible to underrepresented communities through financial assistance and outreach. Widely regarded as one of the country’s finest youth orchestra programs, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) is recognized as a model music and arts education organization. BYSO serves over 600 students from more than 120 communities from around New England. Under the leadership of Music Director Federico Cortese, BYSO has become one of Boston’s most prestigious arts organizations with a programmatic scope that includes three full symphonic orchestras, two string training orchestras, a preparatory wind ensemble, six chamber orchestras, a chamber music program, and the Intensive Community Program, a rigorous instrument training program within the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) that brings quality classical music instruction to underrepresented communities. Since 1958 BYSO has been in residence at Boston University. In 2012 BYSO and Boston Symphony Orchestra announced a new partnership for the future of classical music, BYSO/BSO: Partnering for the Future. For more information visit www.BYSOweb.org.

 

2 thoughts on “Three Watertown Musicians Performing with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras

  1. -Friday, June 8, 2018, 8:00 p.m., Leipzig market square concert : No 4 Bach Meets Bernstein
    – J. S. Bach: Magnificat D-Dur, BWV 243
    – L. Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
    Marie Luise Werneburg (Sopran), Elvira Bill (Mezzosopran), Martin Lattke (Tenor), Philipp Goldmann (Bass), Deutsch-amerikanische Chor- und Orchesterakademie, GewandhausJugendchor, Jugendchor der Oper Leipzig, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, Leitung: Federico Cortese
    Eintritt frei=free attendance
    – Sunday, June 10, 2018, 6:00 p.m., Leipzig Gewandhaus concert : No 46 Mendelson, Bernstein und/& Kollegen/Colleagues
    – A. Copland: Four Motets
    – L. Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
    – F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Sinfonie Nr. 3 a-Moll, op. 56 (MWV N 18), (Die Schottische)
    – J. S. Bach: Dona nobis pacem, aus: Messe in h-Moll, BWV 232
    Deutsch-amerikanische Chor- und Orchesterakademie, GewandhausJugendchor, Frank-Steffen Elster (Choreinstudierung), Jugendchor der Oper Leipzig, Sophie Bauer (Choreinstudierung), Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, Leitung: Federico Cortese
    Kartenpreis/ticket price: € 13,00; ermäßigt/reduced: € 9,00

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