CLASSICS WITH THE GREATS
Golden State Youth Orchestra celebrates 60 years of music-making with world-class performers Catherine Cook, mezzo-soprano, and David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, joining the Symphony in a program featuring a gorgeous selection of Old American Songs by Copland, the beloved Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, and the monumental Second Symphony by Sibelius. Rounding out the program is Bernstein's lively Overture to Candide. Dr. Yun Song Tay conducts.
Violinist David Kim was named Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School.
Highlights of Mr. Kim’s 2022-23 season include appearing as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra; teaching/performance residencies at Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, and the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, solo appearances with orchestras, recitals, and speaking engagements across the United States. He will continue to appear as concertmaster of the 9-time Emmy Award winning All-Star Orchestra on PBS stations across the USA and online at the Khan Academy.
Each season, Mr. Kim appears as a guest in concert with famed modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty at venues such as the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Kim serves as Distinguished Artist at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon. He frequently serves as an adjudicator at international violin competitions such as the Menuhin and Sarasate.
Mr. Kim has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia, the University of Rhode Island, and Dickinson College. His instruments are a J.B. Guadagnini from Milan, Italy ca. 1757 on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra and a Francesco Gofriller ca. 1735. Mr. Kim exclusively performs on and endorses Larsen Strings from Denmark.
In a career spanning over two decades, Mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook has excelled in a wide range of roles with leading companies throughout the United States including The Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, and Opera Colorado.
At San Francisco Opera, Ms. Cook has been featured in over 50 productions in 350 performances, highlights include: the World Premiere of Dead Man Walking (Heggie), the title role in Dolores Claiborne (Picker), Mrs. McClean in Susannah, and La Frugola in Il Tabarro. Most recently at SF Opera, Catherine was Berta in "Barber of Seville at the Drive-in," she also sang her signature role of Marcellina in a new production of Marriage of Figaro as well as Mother Bailey in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life.
Upcoming engagements include 2 role debuts as Mama Lucia in Opera Colorado’s Gala performance of Cavelleria Rusticana, and Mere Jeanne in Dialogues of the Carmelites at San Francisco Opera as part of their Centennial season.
In addition to a busy performing career, Ms. Cook is a Professor of Voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she holds the Frederica von Stade Distinguished Chair in Voice.
Praised by the Polish Radio presenter Adam Rozlach as a “cheerful, vibrant and musically active conductor,” and recognized for his “very natural feel for conducting,” Dr. Yun Song Tay has guest conducted orchestras across Asia, Europe and North America. Recently appointed as the Music Director of the Golden State Youth Orchestra in 2022, Yun Song conducts the Senior Symphony and Camilla Kolchinsky Orchestra.
He previously served as the Assistant Conductor for Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestras from 2020-21 and Arizona State University Orchestra from 2018-2021. During his time in the valley, he also led the Phoenix Symphony in their Education Concert Series. Other ensembles he has conducted during his vibrant career include Orchestra de Camera Fiorentina, Berlin Sinfonietta, European Youth Wind Orchestra, Dutch Royal Guards Band, Cleveland Heights Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Collective (Singapore), MusicaNova Orchestra, and the US Army Field Band. A strong advocate for contemporary music, Yun Song has also conducted the Cleveland Institute of Music New Music Ensemble in multiple performances.
Dr. Tay received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University under Dr. Jeffery Meyer. He received his Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at Cleveland Institute of Music and Bachelor’s degree in Wind Conducting at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where his conducting mentors included Carl Topilow and Danny Oosterman.
Golden State Youth Orchestra (GSYO) is distinguished by its unusually large and diverse number of ensembles, a creative structure that enables GSYO teachers to offer an enriching musical education to the widest possible range of youth. The young musicians of GSYO are culturally diverse and range from those at the beginning of their musical training to those ready to establish their creative careers as performing artists. All receive high-quality learning, performance and leadership opportunities.
More than 450 K-12 students from over 100 schools from San Francisco to Santa Cruz train and perform in five orchestras and two ensembles, led by the award-winning, internationally recognized Symphony Orchestra. Concerts, tours, retreats, summer workshops, masterclasses and music festivals form a vital part of the GSYO experience, creating opportunities for youth at all levels of musical experience to develop socially and artistically while participating in the Bay Area's foremost instrumental training and education program.