April 5, 2013 Media Contact: Kathleen Allen
PRESS RELEASE (206) 362-2300
For Immediate Release kathleen@syso.org
SEATTLE YOUTH SYMPHONY CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF
musical artistry and education
All Four Orchestras Perform, Distinguished Alumni & Guests Featured
at Gala Event on Sunday, April 28, 2013
Seattle, WA - The 2012-2013 Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO) season crescendos with a celebration of the organization's 70 years of high-caliber orchestral performance and education at a gala concert on Sunday, April 28th .
The concert takes place at 3:00 pm at Benaroya Hall. Tickets range from $20 to $50 with discounts available for students, seniors, and rush tickets. They can be purchased at the door or reserved now by calling (206) 362-2300.
The program showcases the full breadth of the Youth Symphony "family" with all four of its orchestras performing - from musicians as young as 7 years old to high school and college-level performers in the top-tier Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Music Director Stephen Rogers Radcliffe.
At this concert the orchestras will perform masterworks from the classical symphonic cannon, with a special highlight being the Youth Symphony Orchestra's performance of the imaginative and expressive Pictures at an Exhibition composed by Modeste Mussorgsky and orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. Mussorgsky's well known Pictures at an Exhibition is a series of orchestral vignettes, each one describing a painting by the Russian artist Victor Hartmann. With extensive solo passages and intricate ensemble work, it is a piece, along with others on the program, that is among the most challenging of the symphonic orchestral repertoire.
In addition to the beautiful music, concert-goers will hear from several distinguished alumni and special guests recounting the impact of the organization on their musical education as well as their lives beyond SYSO. Special guests invited to speak include the following:
David Horsey,Pulitzer Prize winning political commentator for the Los Angeles Times. His work is syndicated by Tribune Media Services to more than 200 newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. Previously during his long career at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Horsey won two Pulitzers for editorial cartooning in 1999 and 2003 and was a Pulitzer finalist in 1987. The son of Raymond Horsey, a noted music teacher and Seattle Youth Symphony board member, David played French horn in the Youth Symphony for six years. He is now a SYSO board member, as well.
Steve Reeder, host of a classical program on Northwest Public Radio network (nwpr.org). A Seattle native and a University of Washington graduate, Reeder has spent his entire adult life working in the broadcast media, arts, and education. He's been associated with Classical KING-FM for more than two decades, serving as an announcer and, for three years, as Program Director. He produced a 30-part historical overview of the Seattle Symphony in conjunction with the opening of Benaroya Hall in 1998, and he helped launch the station's web-based Opera Channel in 2008.
Mae Lin,second violinist for Seattle Symphony. Ms. Lin previously served as Associate Concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Artist in Residence at the University of Evansville. Lin holds a bachelor's and master's degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Naoko Tanaka. She received the Orchestral and Mentor Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, and was asked to serve as teaching assistant to Tanaka there. When not playing with the Symphony, Lin teaches private lessons and plays chamber music.
Mike James, veteran broadcast journalist. Mr. James is best known throughout the Puget Sound area as a long time lead anchor in local television, as a journalist respected by his peers and the public, as a former state-wide political candidate, and as a leader in service to his community. During his career Mike received numerous awards for his work, including several local Emmys. He now serves as a motivational speaker often about disability issues, out of personal as well as professional interest. An inner ear disorder caused his hearing to deteriorate in mid-career. He knows firsthand the workplace and community challenges to people of disability.
Guests at the gala concert will also be treated to vintage video and photographic vignettes from SYSO's storied past as well as documentation of SYSO's more recent efforts in supporting public school music education and pre-professional artistic networking and learning opportunities through partnerships. A silent auction will be help before the concert and during intermissions to raise funds to benefit SYSO's public schools partnerships as well as for scholarships for talented young musicians. All of the day's activities will reinforce SYSO's mission of providing life-changing musical experiences for aspiring musicians in the Pacific Northwest regardless of their financial resources.
About Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras has a tradition of educational excellence and innovation. Founded in 1942 the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra is one of the premiere youth orchestras in the nation. Made up of the finest young classical musicians in the region and led by Music Director Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra delivers performances of professional caliber with the unrivaled energy and passion of youthful artistry.
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Who: Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras' 70th Anniversary Gala concert and silent auction.
What: Seattle Youth Symphony Concerts featuring masterworks of the classical and romantic symphonic repertoire performed by the three training orchestras and the Pacific Northwest's most prestigious youth symphony.
When: Sunday, April 28, 2013
Where: Benaroya Hall on 3rd and Union in Seattle, WA
Price: ranges from $20-$50, with student, senior and group discounts also available.
Ticket Purchasing: At the door, online at www.syso.org, or over the phone at (206) 362-2300
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For more information please call Kathleen Allen at (206) 362-2300
