WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (MARCH 5, 2019) –The Winston-Salem Youth Philharmonic and Premiere Strings will present a mid-season concert on Sunday, March 24 at 7 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public and will take place in the Brendle Recital Hall on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.
The concert will begin with the Premiere Strings, led by Dr. Ryane Dunnagan and Rachel Watson. Premiere Strings is a strings ensemble for young musicians. They will be joined on stage for the first time ever by Greensboro Symphony’s Youth Camerata for a side-by-side concert. In addition, students from the Brahms level of the Winston-Salem Symphony’s Piedmont Learning Academy for Youth (P.L.A.Y. Music) will join the Premiere Strings and Youth Camerata to perform a piece. Premiere Strings and Youth Camerata will be performing Sahara Crossing, by Richard Meyer; Dance of the Tumblers, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and arranged by Sandar Dackow; Professor Wigstein’s Amazing Melody Machine, by Richard Meyer; and Spartacus, by Brian Balmages.
The Youth Philharmonic, led by Margaret Rehder, will present Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, by Franz Liszt; Symphony No. 7, 2nd Movement, by Ludwig van Beethoven; Jupiter Symphony, 1st Movement, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; A Hero’s Voyage, by David Aiken; and Symphony No. 2 in C minor, by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
This concert and the Winston-Salem Symphony are sponsored by Season Presenting Sponsors Bell, Davis, & Pitt, P.A. and BB&T; Symphony Unbound Presenting Sponsors Chris and Mike Morykwas and Anonymous; as well as the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County and the North Carolina Arts Council.
About the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras
The Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras is part of the Winston-Salem Symphony and includes about 130 student musicians. The Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras are currently comprised of two full orchestras and a string orchestra for aspiring musicians in the first through twelfth grades: the Premiere Strings, led by Dr. Ryane Dunnagan and Rachel Watson, is a strings ensemble for young musicians; the Youth Philharmonic, led by Margaret Rehder, is a full orchestra for intermediate level students; and the Youth Symphony, led by Dr. Jessica Morel, is a full orchestra for advanced students. Both full orchestras consist of 50 to 75 members and perform several public concerts annually as well as occasional concerts for special audiences. For more information, visit wssyo.org.
About P.L.A.Y MUSIC
The Piedmont Learning Academy for Youth Music (P.L.A.Y. Music) is the Winston-Salem Symphony’s El Sistema-inspired program which places an emphasis on the teaching of the whole child: head, heart and hands. The central focus of the curriculum is instilling in each student a thankfulness for their background and place in the world, an appreciation for those different than themselves, a motivation to work with others in a team and to better themselves holistically through active contribution and participation in an ensemble. Additionally, the program strives to assist students to excel academically—particularly in the area of early childhood literacy—by creatively including academic activities in each music lesson.
Team Mozart is the primary level of string ensemble musicianship training and provides beginner K–2nd grade students the opportunity to develop basic musical skills including music notation, creative movement and dance, beginner violin techniques, and care, composition, improvisation, and solfege singing, which are all accomplished through participation in “paper orchestra” and beginner strings ensemble. Team Beethoven is the secondary level of string ensemble musicianship training and provides students upwards of 5th grade and graduates of Team Mozart the opportunity to further develop their musical skills. Team Beethoven students transition from the “general” music format of Team Mozart into a more formal “orchestral” setting through more consistent use of chairs, stands, music books, and an introduction to cello for select students in hopes of graduating into our newest, most advanced group—Team Brahms—or preparing them to successfully audition for the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras Program.
About the Winston-Salem Symphony
The Winston-Salem Symphony, one of the Southeast’s most highly regarded regional orchestras, begins its 72nd season in October 2018. The season will include performances featuring the five finalists for the Music Director position. Each candidate will conduct a pair of Classics Series concerts, and attendees will have a chance to play a role in the selection process. In addition, the 2018–2019 season will include a Plugged-In Pops series, Discovery Concerts for Kids series, an annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, the Concert for Community featuring Winston-Salem Symphony and Youth Symphony musicians, holiday concerts, three youth orchestra ensembles, and a multitude of educational and community engagement programs, including the newest offering, the P.L.A.Y. (Piedmont Learning Academy for Youth) Music program providing, primarily to under-served youth, instrumental music instruction and more. The Symphony is supported by Season Presenting Sponsors BB&T and Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A., as well as generous funding from the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and other dedicated sponsors. For more information, visit WSsymphony.org.
# # #
