Online Newsletter of Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras

TEMPO Volume XVIII Winter ‘15

MCYO |

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MCYO Staff and Board of Directors Staff

Artistic Director - Jonathan CarneyMusic Director - Kristofer Sanz

Executive Director - Cheryl JukesOperations Manager - John Park

Associate Executive Director - Christine CoxGrants Associate - Monika Vasey

Accountant - Julie Hamre

ConductorsJorge Orozco, MaryAnn Poling, Kristofer Sanz, Julie Savignon, Simeone Tartaglione

Chamber Ensemble DirectorsAlbert Hunt, Carolyn Oh, Janese Sampson, Monika Vasey

ManagersEsther Choi, Francisco Cosio-Marron, Linda Fong,

Elizabeth Leung, Elizabeth Peterson, Erin Shupe

Board of DirectorsChair - Jerry Breslow

Vice Chair - David PhillipsSecretary - Mike LemovTreasurer - Laine Cocca

Directors-at-LargeNathan Bresee, Kate Carr, Bette Eberly-Hill, Bill Ford, Lucy Freeman,

Helene Granof, Shayla Hines, Jane Kirksey, Marilyn Massey-Ball

Tempo Newsletter mcyo.org

Concert Program Advertising 2014-15 Season! Advertising in the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras program booklets is a great way to show your support for youth arts in our area. There will be three con-certs this year, with a distribution of approximately 1,500 programs each time:

Concert Dates: March 11 & 15, May 18 & 21SUBMISSION DEADLINES ARE

FOUR (4) WEEKS PRIOR TO CONCERT DATE!

Download Ad Form

IN THIS ISSUE | MCYO

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T e m p o N e w s l e t t e r : V o l u m e X V I I IW i n t e r 2 0 1 5 I s s u e

10 Years at Strathmore Posture and our PlayingAlumni NewsAmazing Season’s StartUpcoming EventsRelive the Fall Semester

MCYO | 10 Years at Strathmore

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Few people remember this but back in 1998, under the dynamic leadership of Olivia Gutoff, MCYO was one of the first groups to step forward in support of the “improbable idea” of building a 2,000 seat Concert Hall and Arts Education facility at Strathmore. Per-haps their leadership at the time sensed the tremen-dous inspiration a professional concert hall could be to the musical aspirations of their youth. Perhaps they felt an undeniable urgency to grow their programs until they could no longer fit in after school space. Or maybe they simply recognized the power and possibilities of cohabit-ing and collaborating someday with other high quality musical organizations, all in one single magnificent teaching and performing facility. Whatever it was, MCYO was the first partner to see the future and proudly stand up and be counted. After having been founded by Chester Petranek in 1946, MCYO is now approaching 70 years old while the Strathmore Concert Hall celebrates turning 10 on February 5th. MCYO can look back and measure the rewards of growth and quality they have reaped. They can take for granted what most youth orchestras will never even know they are missing. What a gift they are to Strathmore, to Montgomery County, indeed to the entire region. While sustaining the highest quality of musicianship and performance, MCYO has grown to stunning heights with annual enrollment of approximately 500 students in 6 orchestras, clari-net and flute choirs, harp ensemble and several other small ensembles. Over 10 performances a year at Strathmore and other community venues! They now regularly fill the Concert Hall and often collaborate with other regional youth musical groups in concerts of sheer wonder and majesty. They feature visiting Strathmore and BSO professional musicians in workshops and consistently attract exemplary conductors, coaches, guest artists and dedicated volunteers. They even take their members abroad on tour as performing ambassadors of our community.

And MCYO’s best days are still ahead of them as they look forward to a future without bound-aries. Sometimes, dreams do come true…even improbable ones. Eliot Pfanstiehl, CEOStrathmore

2015 is a special year for MCYO. It marks the 10th anniversary of its many ensembles performing at the Music Center at Strathmore. This concert hall is acous-tically one of the finest facilities in the United States. Moving to this facility as its home and concert hall, gave our students an exciting new performing experience. The educational value and artistic growth gained by MCYO has been proven over the last 10 years. We look forward to continuing and increasing that value, a pri-mary objective of the MCYO since its founding 70 years ago. Jerry Breslow

MCYO Board Chair

10 Years at Strathmore | MCYO

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Artist Joseph Craig English Produces “World of Montgomery at Strathmore” One thing Montgomery County’s Sister Cities program learned on a visit to Xi’an, China in 2013 was that some cities are a lot better at gift giving than we are. Our elegant embossed silver plate paled in comparison to the magnificent boxed model of a horse drawn chariot complete with Terracotta warriors given to County Executive Ike Leggett by the Mayor of Xi’an. County Executive Leggett called on Washington Grove silkscreen artist Joseph Craig English to produce a suitable gift for our Sister Cities. English was asked to portray the extraordinary talent of the county’s diverse population. County Executive Leggett suggested The Music Center at Strathmore as a backdrop. Craig Eng-lish came up with the idea of representing our county’s diversity through the faces of musicians in an orchestra as an orchestra demonstrates the great success achieved when people work in concert with each other. Eliot Pfanstiehl, the guru of all things Strathmore, hooked English up with Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras. Craig was given permission to take a zillion photos of the young musicians and then headed for his studio. The artist changed skin color, hair color, etc., but body language was important to accurately portray the musicians. The final piece (a limited edition of 18) was a product of 32 hand cut and printed stencils (one for each color). To see Craig English’s remarkable process, go to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Joseph-Craig-English-Studio/564179423608867. For a beautiful giclee reproduction of the “World of Montgomery at Strathmore” print, please contact Bruce Adams at bruce.adams@montgomerycountymd.gov. Montgomery Sister Cities has a limited edition of 100 framed 18x24” giclee reproductions available for $450 each; 11x14” giclee reproductions are $120 framed or $75 with just a mat. Proceeds will support Montgomery Sister Cities. For information about Montgomery County’s Sister Cities program, please go to: www.montgomerysistercities.org/

County Executive Ike Leggett presenting Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain with anoriginal Joseph Craig English “World of Montgomery at

Strathmore” silkscreen print inspired by musicians from the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras. The presentation was part of a Sister Cities

signing ceremony in Hyderabad, India on November 14, 2014.

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MCYO | Posture and our Playing

A recent visit and coaching with the Anne Arundel all-county orchestra, led by the tremen-dously gifted maestro Julien Benichou, has made me once again think about how influential good posture is on our playing. These high schoolers were rehearsing a dif-ficult program centered around Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain. Not only is this a com-plicated work on a technical level, but it poses tremendous physical challenges for almost the entire orchestra. I watched and listened intently them as they fought their way through these challenges. Cha-os was beginning to rain down on much of their hard work. I didn’t want to see them throw away these countless hours of good practice because of their inability to implement some simple guide-lines to correcting and maintaining good posture whilst playing.

Firstly, we stopped, put down our instruments on our laps and practiced some silent breathing. Sitting up straight with our shoulders down and breathing deeply is a wonderful way of reliev-ing much of the stress and strain that we force onto our bodies when we play. I asked them to imagine someone holding their head supporting

its weight and gently having it pulled up. That sensation of having our shoulders pushing down and our heads pulling up allows us to have a long neck and to eliminate the tension that we cre-ate in our upper vertebrae by pushing down our instruments for so many hours each day. Next, we maintained this good posture, and proceeded to hold up our instruments without adversely effecting our newly discovered, com-fortable seated position. We finally began to play something easy and slow to help reinforce this work the we had done. My basic philosophy in practicing is never try to fix more than one problem at a time, this also holds true with our bodies. We get into so many bad habits as a result of our hectic, grueling and complicated lifestyles. We need to take them apart one step at a time, and these exercises need to be maintained at home, at school and even in the car.

Yehudi Menuhin used to always say everything in music is up. He was absolutely correct! With our bodies and music making never being very far from each other, I urge all of our MCYO stu-dents to follow these simple ideas on maintaining correct posture. Sit up, head up, eyes up, violin up, bow arm up. Stay positive with our minds and our bodies will follow. It will not only lead to a lifetime of enjoyment with music, it will also help promote health and longevity within our normal daily activities.

Jonathan Carney MCYO Artistic Director

Posture on the left is the correct posture!

And remember, practice slowly. The tortoise always wins with our practicing habits.

Alumni News pt. 1 | MCYO

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MICHAEL KOCHER, violin Alum year - 1978 - 84 I started in the Prep Orchestra, in 1978-79, and finished up in the Senior Orchestra in 1983-1984. During the summers I would attend the Mary-land Center for the Arts (MCA). Many members of MCYO attended these MCA summer program. MCYO Founder, Chester Petranek conducted the orchestra in the MCA Senior Session. When I was in high school, and Mark Ulrich conducted the Prep Orchestra, I would assist him before rehearsal tuning the kid’s instruments. We re-hearsed at BCC. Isadore Glazer was my private teacher. John F. Kennedy High School had no orchestra, so the MCYO was critical to my devel-opment as an orchestra player. During my junior and senior years in high school, I made two violins with Willis Gault. I never went to college, but rather attended the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated in 1993. I also attend the summer workshops offered by the Violin Society of America, at Oberlin Ohio. I now make and repair violins in St.0 Louis, Missouri. I still play violin, and I am teaching my son.

I still play violin, and occasionally perform with a local amateur orchestra. I once played fid-dle music for contra dances, when I was in violin making school, When I saw my future wife on the dance floor, I quit the band and learned con-tra dancing. I have two sons, ages eight and eleven. I am teaching the older one to play violin. It’s the high point of my day when he asks me for a violin les-son! MCYO provided me with many happy times. Chester Petranek’s long no-compromise rehears-als were important steps in becoming a better musician, and maturing as a person. I am glad to know that MCYO continues to exist and thrive. My advice: I’ve met too many people who were once ac-complished musicians, who then stopped playing. If ever the demands of school or work don’t al-low you to practice your one or two hours a day, make time for a few minutes. Those few minutes will help you to keep a lot of your musical skill. Musical ability is a thing too valuable to abandon. Memorize a few simple and fun songs, so you can always have something to offer people who want to hear you play. There will always be people who want to hear you play.

CHRIS BARRICK, percussion Alum year - 1997 - 2002 My years in MCYO were: 1997-98 in Junior Orchestra under David Levin and 1999 - 2002 in Senior Orchestra under Olivia Gutoff. I attended Thomas S. Wootton High School and received my Bachelor of Music in percussion from Indiana University. My Masters is from Cincinnati Col-lege-Conservatory of Music.I do lots of playing and teaching. It’s my job! I’m a freelance musi-cians. Some classical music but also a lot of jazz, Afro-Cuban and pop music. My girlfriend, Leah

Arsenault, plays flute with the NSO. Among my fondest memories of MCYO include playing at Carnegie Hall in 2002 and realizing that Ms. Gut-off had prepared me very well for music school. My advice: Keep practicing, listening to and discovering music that moves you. Though many of you are already very talented, keep pushing yourselves as much as you can. Music is an ongoing pursuit of excellence that gives more and more rewards the further you go.

MCYO | Alumni News pt. 2

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JULIE BERRY, clarinet Alum year - 1984 - 85 In 1984-85, I played in the top orchestra, 1st clarinet, with Chester Petranek - previously I lived in San Diego and was in the San Diego Youth Symphony Orchestra. I attended Sherwood High School and Bonita Vista High School in San Diego. For college, I attended the Eastman School of Music as a per-formance major and then was a teaching assistant for a year at the University of Mass. at Amherst while starting my masters of Music Degree. I then won the job for the United States Army Band. I was in the United States Army Band “Persh-ing’s Own” for 20 years. I just retired 3 years ago. I am now playing with the Gennusa Clarinet Camerata, a Clarinet Quartet, and sometimes in the Fallls Church Band. I play duets with my father who also plays the clarinet regularly.

I am happily retired for now. As I said, I just retired from the United States Army Band 3 years ago. We moved to Germany for 2 years for my husband’s job and now I am just enjoying myself. I have twins, a girl and a boy who just started college this year! They play the clarinet and saxophone but, did not choose it for their career choice. My father plays the clarinet for fun but, was a Navy officer. My mother played the piano. We always had classical music playing in our home. My advice: I think having classical music always playing in our house helped a lot! Having classical music in your head and ear all the time really does make a difference. Even in the car! Practice as much as you can. If you were at the MCYO Master Class with Dr. Wright in November, he’s correct--play long tones. Play them every day along with all your scales and thirds and sight read a lot, every day!

TIM WEI, violin Alum year - 1985 - 91(Also currently, dad of Candace in Prep Strings!)

Some of the years between 1985 to 1991, I played VIOLIN in both Junior and Senior Or-chestras, but I don’t remember who the conduc-tors were. I was also the concertmaster of the MCYO Junior Orchestra for one of the early years I played there. I attended Thomas Wootton High for my first 2 years of high school, and then attended and graduated from Winston Churchill High. I received my B.S. from the business school with double majors: Finance and International Business from the University of Maryland, Col-lege Park. I then received my M.S. in Information Systems and Technology from Johns Hopkins University. I considered minoring in music with con-centration in violin performance at UMCP, but unfortunately it did not work out with working on my double majors in business administration

at the same time. So I had stopped playing since I graduated from high school, but started playing again about 2 years ago to help coach my daugh-ter. I’m a co-owner/Vice President and CIO of a small IT consulting company. I have a wife, a daughter, and a son. My wife plays the piano. My daughter plays the violin, and just auditioned yesterday for the first time for MCYO! She also plays the piano. My son just started playing the violin. A fond memory of MCYO: I can still remem-ber playing in front of a sell-out crowd at the Kennedy Center for the radio broadcast during Christmas holidays. My advice: Practice hard, but efficiently. Take advantage of today’s technology where Internet takes you to gain great video and sound of great musicians performing world-wide, and take notes. Take in not only the technical aspect, but the artistry and how to portray that to the audience.

Amazing Season’s Start | MCYO

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What an amazing start to our 2014-2015 MCYO Season. With our hugely successful De-cember concerts behind us I just wanted to say a big thank you from all of the MCYO staff and conductors for joining us for another season and for entrusting us with the music education of your student musicians.

We are truly blessed to have so many extreme-ly talented young musicians that we get to work with on a weekly basis. As our talent level con-tinues to rise our conductors are able to program some very difficult yet musical rewarding and approachable repertoire for our students. This past concert semester all of our ensembles truly rose to the challenge and performed a myriad of different works spanning from the baroque to the modern era. Specifically of note, the Phil-harmonic, MCYO’s flagship ensemble, expertly performed on the Strathmore stage Berlioz’s Sym-phonie Fantastique and Janacek’s Suite from the Cunning Little Vixen, two works that are usually never performed by youth orchestra ensembles. To much acclaim, Philharmonic’s performance was extremely successful and musically nuanced far beyond what is usually expected from high school musicians. Our 2014-2015 season brings with it not only a focus on providing our students an opportunity to perform high quality orchestral repertoire but also a chance to collaborate with many different other youth musical organizations and profes-sional composers including the National Sym-phony Orchestra, CityDance Ensemble, Young Artists of America, and Spanish composer Os-valdo Mendoza. In celebration of our 10th year at Strathmore, MCYO is commissioning multiple works to be composed in honor of our time at Strathmore as well in honor of those that made our residency possible. We are greatly looking forward to highly musical and passionate year and please help spread the word about the amaz-ing work that all of our young musicians are do-

ing here at Strathmore. For those of you new to the organization, I am very proud to say that MCYO boasts three full orchestras, three string orchestras and a variety of chamber ensembles. Educationally, MCYO is an educationally sound organization that pro-vides the young musicians in this area an oppor-tunity to hone their technical skills while at the same time challenging their musical growth by rehearsing and performing a wide range of rep-ertoire. From our youngest group, Preparatory Strings to our flagship youth orchestra, Philhar-monic, every child enrolled in our program has the opportunity to work with side by side with elite conductors, teachers, local educators, and professional symphony musicians.

We are greatly looking forward to the rest of our 2014-2015 season and many wonderful opportunities for our young musicians includ-ing: our upcoming collaboration with Young Artists of America in performance of “West Side Story/Romeo et Juliette”, various outreach performances in the community, masterclasses with some of the area’s most talented profes-sional musicians, our 10 year’s at Strathmore concert celebration “Spanish Nights” in May, and many other wonderful surprises along the way

Kristofer Sanz MCYO Music Director

MCYO |

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ASTA MUSIC TEACHERS promote ORCHESTRA playing

Why Orchestra?Portion of article for MDDC chapter’s next issue of Stringendo. Reprinted with permission of Jean Provine, American String Teachers Association Here are a few of the many compelling reasons that our students MUST join an orchestra. - They will have fun playing with friends, make new musical friends, and have peers to look up to; all which encourage them to continue their practicing. - They will develop their counting, reading and ensemble skills to a higher level setting them up for successful ensemble playing as adults. - They will be musically broadened by the many musical styles, composers and technical chal-lenges in the orchestral literature that we would never have time to explore in their private lessons. - They will be well equipped to play chamber music. - They may get the chance to tour and travel. - They will be the future of our orchestras: if not playing in them, they will appreciate and sup-port them financially. - They will help keep the orchestra tradition alive by encouraging their children to join orches-tras.

STRATHMORE PIANO SALE

A limited number of pianos used for both practice and performance at Strathmore throughout the past season are being offered for sale below their institutional cost during a one-day event open to the general public on Sunday, Janu-ary 25th from 10:00am-1:30pm. This opportunity includes pianos from names such as

Yamaha, Bösendorfer, Mason & Hamlin, Cristofori & Roland, each profession-ally maintained at Strathmore, and still carrying the manufacturer’s warranty. Used Steinways will also be available. Friends of Strathmore are invited to get appointment only access to this selection prior to the public event on Sunday on Friday or Saturday. There are two ways to participate in this private appointment opportunity: 1. Make an appointment by calling (301) 836-2045 and indicate that you received this letter. You will be required to present your confirmation number for access to the event. 2. Visit www.strathmorepiano.org and register online for the available time of your choice.

Upcoming Events | MCYO

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Join us for 4 Magnificent MARCH CONCERTS!MARCH 8, 4pm at the Music Center at Strathmore: MCYO and collaborator Young Artists of American present “West Side Story + Romeo et Juliette” featuring MCYP’s Philharmonic and Symphony. Come early for a lively MCYO Percussion Ensemble performance under the direction of Latin artist Luis Garay (in the orchestra lobby, pre-concert.)

MARCH 11, 7:30pm at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Dekelboum Con-cert Hall: MCYO presents its Young Artists orchestra and the Chamber Ensemble, featuring the CPE Bach Flute Concerto Competition Winner, CATHY XUE! Con-gratulations Cathy!

MARCH 15, 4pm at the Lutheran Church of St Andrew, Silver Spring, MD: MCYO presents the Harp Ensemble, Pre-paratory Strings and Chamber Strings.

MARCH 22, 6:30pm at the Arts Barn Theater, Gaithersburg, MD: MCYO presents a Small Ensemble Concert featur-ing the Clarinet Choir and MCYO’s two Flute Choirs.

Master ClassesMARCH 9. 7pm at the JCC’s Kreeger Auditorium in Rockville. The JCC pre-sents a master class for MCYO string quartets with The Fine Arts Quartet.FREE and open to the public. RSVP to jgetz@jccgw.org

APRIL 14, 7pm at the Kenndey Center Terrace Theater: The NSO presents Time For Three in a master class, featuring an MCYO musician. FREE & open to MCYO students. RSVP Cheryl@mcyo.org

Special Offers for MCYO!FEBRUARY 3, 7:30 pm at the JCC Kreeger Auditorium, Rockville: The JCC presents Boston Symphony Orchestra violist Daniel Getz for a special homecoming recital with pianist Ellen Hwangbo and violinist John Hughes. Music by Schumann, Mozart, Kodaly, and Bax. $5 MCYO Student Rush tickets available at the door.

FEBRUARY 5: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Open Rehearsal at Strathmore. BSO invites MCYO musicians to attend a special open rehearsal from 4:00-5:15 in the concert hall. The BSO is rehearsing for its Gala concert that night, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Strathmore! Among other stunning repertoire, the concert will feature a special surprise guest performance of Bruch’s Double Concerto for Violin & Viola by our own Evelyn Song, co-concertmas-ter of the Philharmonic, with MCYO Artistic Director Jonathan Carney!Want to attend this rehearsal? First 50 students to email Cheryl@mcyo.org will receive passes.

APRIL 12: Catholic University of America’s Rome School of Music is offering FREE TICKETS for MCYOers to a CUA concert at the Kennedy Center. Our very own Maestro Tartaglione is also the orchestra conductor at CUA! Please contact Cheryl@mcyo.org if you are interested.ALSO: Maestro invites any MCYO Philharmonic musicians who might like to play in the above concert with CUA to contact him via the mcyo office. Email Cheryl@mcyo.org if you are interested in pursuing (he may audition you briefly on a Wednesday evening).

APRIL 30: MCYO students are invited to an NSO Open Rehearsal at the Kennedy Center 10:00-12:30am including Q&A with Maestro Eschenbach. This concert will feature Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso for 3 cellists (Steven Honig-berg, James Lee, David Tele), plus Strauss’s Overture to Die Fledermaus & Beethoven’s Fifth. RSVP to the office, Cheryl@mcyo.org

MCYO | Relive the Fall Semester

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MCYO PHOTOS Here are some of the photos from Fall 2014.

We always add pictures to our Flickr page, click HERE to view.

MCYO Master Class with Jauvon Williams, NSOand MCYO Percussionists!

Winter Chamber Ensemble Concert!!Featuring Choirs and Harp Ensemble

National Philharmonic Cello Master Class with Zuill BaileyPhilharmonic’s Joshua Choi and Raymond Lin

MCYO December Concert at Strathmore! Philharmonic and Chamber Ensemble with CityDance Ensemble

Photos by: Christian Amonson

| MCYO

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Founded in 1946, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras is the oldest, largest and most established youth orchestra program in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

MCYO not only enriches the community with quality orchestra experiences but “nurtures and develops young talented musicians” by offering three full orchestras, one chamber orchestra, two string orches-tras and additional chamber ensembles. Ranging in grades 3-12, nearly 500 talented musicians from

around the region participate each season.

For additional information, contact the MCYO administrative offices (301) 581-5208 or 5209

MCYO proudly acknowledges financial sponsorship by the following contributors. • Individual Contributors • Board of Directors • Strathmore Hall Foundation • Maryland State Arts Council • Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County • The Trawick Foundation • Joseph & Ligia Wiegand Family Foundation • The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation • Lockheed Martin Corporation • Washington Gas & Light Company • Washington Post Company • Montgomery Alliance for Community Giving • The United Way and America’s Charities • Carolyn and Jeffrey Leonard Tuition Scholarship Fund • The Joseph and Rosalind Shifrin Guest Artists Fund • Andreas and Margaret Makris Scholarship Fund • AT&T • IBM • COSTCO

Become a Friend of MCYO! Your contribution ensures that our young musicians, regardless of financial circumstances, have access to a full orchestral experience. Participation stimu-lates their musicial growth and provides them with unique performance oppor-tunities. Donate to MCYO and become a “Friend” in one of our member clubs. Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit Corporation and is eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributiions.

Please make checks payable to MCYO and mail your donation to: Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras The Music Center at Strathmore 5301 Tuckerman Ln. North Bethesda, MD 20852

Donate Online

MCYO gratefully acknowledges our major funders: