That ‘70s Show: Looking for HYS alumni from the 1970’s to perform with Youth Symphony in April

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Roy E. King, Jr. President Jill Shimokawa Higa Vice President Tina Lau Vice President Leslie Murata Vice President

MUSIC STAFF Henry Miyamura, Music Director & Conductor Youth Symphony I Michael Nakasone Conductor Youth Symphony II Joan Doike, Conductor Susan Ochi-Onishi, Associate Conductor Concert Orchestra ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Selena Ching Executive Director Ann Doike Programs Manager Janet Morita Programs Associate

Chris Yuen Treasurer David Matsumoto Secretary

Carolyn Berry Gladys Hirano Martin Hsia Daniel Momohara Michael Onofrietti Marjorie Tanoue Charlotte Fukumoto Coordinator, Strings Pro-gram & Conductor Beginning Strings Elton Masaki Conductor CSO Helen Nguyen Conductor SOE & Prep. Strings

Meredith Prescott Administration and Finance Manager

Kelly Shigeta Librarian Judy Vierck Operations Manager

1110 University Ave., #200 Honolulu, HI 96826-1508

Return Service Requested

Non Profit U.S. Postage

PAID Honolulu, HI

Permit No. 1177

(808) 941-9706 phone (808) 941-4995 fax admin@hiyouthsymphony.org www.hiyouthsymphony.org

Dust off your instruments and oil your valves!! HYS is inviting any alumni who graduated between 1970-1979 to return to our concert stage to perform Man of La Mancha with our most ad-vanced orchestra, Youth Symphony I, under the direction of Henry Miyamura. The concert is scheduled for Sun-day, April 9, at the Hawaii Theatre, 3:00 pm. Partici-pants will be asked to attend one rehearsal the week be-fore the performance and a rehearsal and sound-check the morning of the concert. You need not be a professional or regular musician to play. The music is already avail-

able at the HYS office for those who want to get an early start with practicing. HYS has arranged for this special performance in response to results from our alumni survey which showed that our alumni wanted to reminisce and perform again. There will also be a post-concert reception for all alumni to reconnect. Please join us. Call the HYS office at 941-9706 for information. ♪

Hawaii Youth Symphony

Please help us find our alumni. If you have information on past students of the Hawaii Youth Symphony, please let us know how to contact them or have them email alumni@hiyouthsymphony.org or call 808-941-9706 with their up-dated information so we can keep them informed of the latest happenings.

Photo by Karl Hedberg Photographer

New HYS t-shirts have arrived and they are a must-have. The shirts are black and 100% cotton. There is a two-color (silver and red) design printed on the front of the shirt with the silver HYS logo printed on the left sleeve. HYS is grateful to designer, parent and volunteer Mel Uchida for giving us this stunning design. Early reports have been extremely posi-tive, with comments including “exciting” to “beautiful” to “hip” and “cool”. Shirts are avail-able in sizes raging from children’s medium, large and adult small through extra large. All shirts are $10. Call the HYS office at 941-9706 to place your order or download a form at our web-site, www.hiyouthsymphony.org. ♪

HYS Fashions New Look

More than 900 people braved the torrential down-pours and flash flood warnings on December 4, to see the Hawaii Youth Symphony’s three symphony orchestras perform during their Winter Concert. And it was well worth it! Generously spon-sored by the First Hawaiian Foundation, this concert at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, featuring nearly 300 young musicians, ages 11-17, from 42 schools was a blockbuster. The 91-member Concert Or-chestra, under the batons of Joan Doike and Susan Ochi-Onishi ably opened the pro-gram with pieces by Camille Saint-Saëns, Georges Bizet, Gabriel Fauré. They fittingly closed their section with Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festi-val. This entry-level sym-

phony orchestra, which per-formed like well-seasoned mu-sicians, includes students from 30 schools statewide. HYS’s intermediate orchestra, YSII, under the direction of Michael Nakasone, closed the first half of the concert with four exciting pieces by some of classical music’s finest com-posers including Jean Sibelius and Antonin Dvorák. Concert-master Celia Ou took center stage with an impressive solo in Bach’s Concerto in E Major for Violin & Orchestra. YSII is comprised of 100 musicians

from 24 schools. The after-noon’s high-light was the collaborative performance between Maestro

A TRADITION OF MUSICAL EXCELLENCE Winter 2006

SAVE THE DATE Maui Concerts Youth Symphony I Community Concert, Free Featuring Uluwehi Guerrero Sun., February 26, 7:30 pm Maui Arts & Cultural Center Listen & Learn Educational Concerts, Free Mon., February 27 9:30 am & 10:45 am Maui Arts & Cultural Center Youth Symphony II Concert Sun., March 5, 12:00-1:00 pm Windward Mall, Free Concert Orchestra Concert Sun., March 19, 2:00-3:00 pm Kahala Mall, Free Youth Symphony I Spring Concert Sun., April 9, 3:00 pm Hawaii Theatre Youth Symphony II & Concert Orchestra Spring Concert Sun., April 23, 4:00 pm Pearl City Cultural Center String Program Aloha Concert Sun., April 30, 2:00 pm Kaimuki High School Aud. Aloha Concert Luncheon Sun., May 7, 10:30 am Hilton Hawaiian Village Upper Orchestra Auditions May 27-28 and June 3-4 Program information at www.hiyouthsymphony.org or call 941-9706.

…OF NOTE ♫

Hawai i Youth Symphony N e w s l e t t e r

HYS Heads to Maui: Performance with Maui’s own Uluwehi Guerrero at the MACC, February 26, 7:30 pm

Na Hoku Hanohano male vocalist of the year, Uluwehi Guerrero and his Halau Hula Kauluokala will join the Youth Symphony I for a community concert at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater on Sunday, February 26, 7:30 pm. Students from schools on Maui will perform with the orchestra at this free concert. For many, it will be their first time performing with a full symphony orchestra.

Two Listen & Learn educational concerts will follow the community performance the next morning, February 27, at the MACC. These free concerts are open to school children through-out Maui and are already filled to capacity.

This is a highly anticipated tour by our orchestra and we are grateful for the sponsorship from the Yokouchi Foundation and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. ♪

Winter Concert Sings: First Hawaiian Foundation makes phenomenal concert possible

Henry Miyamura’s Youth Symphony I and the Hono-lulu Symphony Chorus, un-der the direction of Dr. Karen Kennedy. The Chorus and YSI came together for two stupendous pieces: one world premiere, entitled Hear My Song! by Dr. Neil McKay;

(Continued on page 2) Emcee: KITV4 Mahealani Richardson

YSI and the Honolulu Symphony

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A TRADITION OF MUSICAL EXCELLENCE

Letter from the Executive Director Dear HYS Family,

Planning a season to follow a tremendous 40th anniversary is no easy task. But the first half of our 41st season has proven that excellent performances and great accomplish-ment are linked more closely to good leadership, drive and inspiration than a point in time. Students in our seven or-chestras demonstrated high levels of achievement, letting us know that although we raised the bar for musical excel-lence last season, they had no intention of relaxing the standard. We are very proud of what is happening in our rehearsal rooms and at our concerts and want to congratu-late each of our 412 current orchestra members.

On the governance side of HYS, our Board of Directors unanimously approved the following slate of officers for the next year: President Roy E. King, Jr., Vice Presidents Jill Shimokawa Higa, Tina Lau, Les Murata, Secretary David Matsumoto and Treasurer Chris Yuen. This is an exceptional group dedicated to HYS and a willing to work tirelessly for our students. It is a pleasure to work with each of them.

I am also delighted to announce the promotion of Ann Doike from Administrative Assistant to Programs Man-ager, replacing Abel Rivera who left HYS for a corporate position. Helping Ann will be Janet Morita who was pro-moted to Programs Associate. Ann and Janet understand our programs inside and out. They each have had children in our orchestras and bring a host of individual talents to their new positions. Congratulations!

Before signing off, I want to encourage all of our alumni to help us sustain the momentum that we’ve gained since launching our alumni initiative last season. We are looking forward to welcoming students from the 70s back to our concert stage in April and hope to make this an annual event with different classes. I hope you’ll join us and keep the music alive and well!

Kudos Korner Music Teachers National Association state winners include violin sisters: Ren Martin Doike who won the Junior String competition and Zoë Martin Doike for the Senior Strings. Violinist Jennifer Lai won the senior piano com-petition and cellist Andrew Ramos won in the junior piano cate-gory. All go on to the regional finals in Las Vegas in January. Hawaii Music Teachers Association recognized the following HYS violinists in its 2005 State Honors Competition: Level I: Clarice Cross, 1st place; Kyle Motoshige, Hon. Mention Level II: Theadora Lau and Kelley Lin tied for 3rd place; Teighlor Nakagawa and Blaise Tesoro Hon. Mention Level III: Marissa Kwong, 1st place; Teresa Ou, 2nd place, Iris Kuo, 3rd place Level IV: Celia Ou, 1st place; Eric Chao on cello and Ming Tani-gawa-Lau tied for 2nd place; Jaycee Uchida, 3rd place; Kevin Lin and Jonathan Yang, and Kevin Park on piano, Hon. Mention. National radio program From the Top will feature HYS students as soloists: Zoë Martin Doike, double bassist Kathryn Schulmeister and Andrew Ramos on piano. If you know of a HYS member who should be listed in the Kudos Korner, call 941-9706 or email admin@hiyouthsymphony.org. ♪

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Selena Ching

Aloha,

HYS Blockbuster Concert

In the Spotlight New HYS Board Member

Chris Yuen

The Hawaii Youth Symphony is pleased to welcome newest board member, Chris Yuen to its family. Chris was recently installed as HYS’s treasurer. A partner of Ohata Chun Yuen LLP, CPAs, and a former consultant for Coo-pers & Lybrand, Chris brings an abundance of

accounting and business experience with him to HYS. He is a for-mer accounting instructor for Hawaii Pacific University. His vol-unteer service has included board membership with the Hawaii Society of Certified Public Accountants, Kaimuki Business & Pro-fessional Association, Kalihi Palama Immigrant Service Center and treasurer for the Rotary Club of East Honolulu. Chris comes from a family of musicians with two college-aged children. ♪

and a powerful and rousing rendition of Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances from Prince Igor. The partnership with the Symphony Chorus proved to not only be beneficial to YSI’s 92 musicians from 20 schools, but to audience members as well. Bravo! ♪

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Maestro Henry Miyamura introduces Dr. Karen Kennedy

More than 9,000 elementary and intermediate school stu-dents throughout Oahu attended six educational Listen & Learn concerts by HYS’s three sym-phony orchestras on December 5, 6 and 13, 2005. Concert programs included instrument demonstrations, sing-a-longs and opportunities for students to conduct the orchestras.

HYS held its annual Open House and family potluck on September 18, 2005. More than 300 family members attended to see open rehears-als by HYS’s three sym-phony orchestras, hear a seasonal update and enjoy an enormous potluck.

www.H iYouthSymphony.org Page 3

String Program Concert

One-hundred and twenty-eight young musicians of HYS’s String Pro-gram from 58 schools on Oahu made their 2005-2006 season debut at Kaimuki High School’s auditorium on December 11 for their Holiday Concert. Performing orchestras included Beginning Strings, under the direction of Charlotte Fukumoto, Preparatory Strings and String Orches-tra Ensemble, directed by Helen Nguyen and Concert String Orchestra, directed by Elton Masaki. The concert, which showed extraordinary progress by our students, was followed by a holiday potluck. ♪

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Na Mele Raises $51,000 On October 30, 2005, the much beloved group Ho`okena and vocalist Maila Gibson joined the Youth Symphony I for HYS’s annual He Makana O Na Mele: The Gift of Music at the Hilton Ha-waiian Village’s Coral Ballroom. The benefit dinner and concert raised $51,000 for HYS pro-grams. Our gratitude goes to Event Chair Tina Lau and Silent Auction Chair Vicky Chiu-Irion. We are grateful to all our spon-sors, especially our Maes-tro Circle’s Bank of Ha-waii and the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, USA, Dr. Lawrence K. Tseu, President. ♪

Top left : Kamehameha Schools senior and principal bassist Kaleo Ha`o gives the invocation in Hawaiian Top right: Kumu Hula Manu Boyd offers an opening chant Above: HYS Board Members Roy King and Mike Onofrietti with emcee Kim Gennaula of KGMB9 Below: Ho`okena with hula dancer Nani Dudoit

Stand Partners The Hawaii Youth Sym-phony is grateful to the following supporters who have taken a stand for mu-sic and our young people since June 2005. Mahalo! Jonathan Y. C. Ching

Revocable Trust: $40,000 for alumni endowment Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts: $33,000 for symphony orchestra programs The Cades Foundation: $10,000 for operations Gannett Foundation: $5,000 for String Program John R. Halligan Charitable Fund: $5,000 for operations Mayor’s Office on Culture and the Arts: $5,000 for 2006 Spring Concerts Dr. Arleene Skillman: $5,000 for 2006 Spring Concerts Yokouchi Foundation: $5,000 for YSI Maui Tour

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Youth Symphony I Henry Miyamura, conductor

April 9, 2006 3:00 pm

Hawaii Theater featuring

♦ Two world premiers of works by: Michael Foumai Dr. Takeo Kudo

♦ Dr. Thomas Yee, piano ♦ 1970-1979 HYS alumni Tickets: $18, $15, general, $8 students & seniors available at HTC Box Office

Spring Concert Series

Sponsored by JOHN R. HALLIGAN CHARITABLE FUND, DR. ARLEENE SKILLMAN, MAYOR’S OFFICE OF CULTURE AND THE ARTS, Mayor Mufi Hannemann, City & County of Honolulu

Youth Symphony II Michael Nakasone, conductor

and

Concert Orchestra Joan Doike, Conductor

Susan Ochi-Onishi, Associate Conductor

April 23, 2006 4:00 pm

Pearl City Cultural Center

Tickets: $15, general, $8, students & seniors, available at the door