LJYO in the News

February 11, 2008

Spotlight shines on Youth Orchestra soloists.

      Four centuries of music, presented by three talented soloists and a 40-piece ensemble: it’s all in an afternoon’s work for La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra.
      When the Port Hope-based group presents “In The Spotlight” on Sunday February 24, its repertoire will range from a piece written in the early 1700s, to a 21st-century composition by Orchestra coach and saxophonist David Tanner.
      While three compositions will feature extended solos, the programme will also highlight the contributions of individual sections of the Orchestra.
      David Shewchuk, LJYO concertmaster, will perform the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The piece was composed in 1863 for the virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate, and continues to be one of Saint-Saëns most popular compositions.
      Shewchuck, a 17-year-old violinist from Bowmanville, said he enjoys the piece because “it demonstrates the great writing of Saint-Saëns combined with the spectacular virtuoso element of Sarasate.” Shewchuck adds, “I have also written a short cadenza near the end of the piece to add my own personal touch of flare.”
      Orchestra member Emily Karpazis, a grade 12 student from Oakwood, will perform a baroque masterpiece by Giuseppe Sammartini, the Concerto in F Major, to highlight an instrument that is not often heard in symphonic settings. “I love to perform on the recorder to show the little-known range of this instrument,” Karpazis says.
      Sammartini’s Concerto for recorder, published in 1717, remains one of his most popular pieces. Karpazis says the concerto “requires immaculate attention to detail throughout – Sammartini leaves little room for error. I particularly enjoy playing the third movement, which is quite fast paced, but must remain light and free as if it required little effort.”
      Carina Canonico, a high school senior from Bowmanville, is featured in Carl Maria von Weber’s 1811 work “Concertino for orchestra and clarinet.” Weber wrote the piece for Heinrich Baermann, a clarinet virtuoso. Canonico said she particularly likes “the contrasts between the slow, lyrical parts and the very fast-moving sections.”
      The Orchestra will also perform “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius, a selection from Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony #9 "From the New World", and “Tango of the Lemons” by Northumberland resident David Tanner.
      Tickets for the concert are $15 for adults, $12 for students, and $40 for a family of four, and are available in advance at www.ljyo.ca, by phone at 1-866-460-5596, and at the box offices of Victoria Hall in Cobourg and the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope.
      The concert is at Port Hope United Church, Sunday February 24 at 3 pm; doors will open at 2:30 pm.