Celebrating his 31st season as Music Director/Conductor in 2019-2020, David Ramadanoff conducts 92 young musicians who range in age from 11 to 20, and hail from 29 cities and 6 counties in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Maestro Ramadanoff thoughtfully selects music programs that are able to showcase the diversity of talent in the entire orchestra. For YPSO’s Winter Concert, the musicians will be performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, first movement, Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Respighi’s Fountains of Rome, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.
The story behind the composition and publication of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 is one of personal and national identity. Philip Huscher, an annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, states that “in the summer of 1889, Dvořák retired to his country home at Vysoká, away from the pressures of urban life and far from the demands of performers and publishers. There he realized that he was ready to tackle a new symphony— something ‘different from the other symphonies, with individual thoughts worked out in a new way.’”– These musical ideas invoked the images of an idyllic countryside and the folk music of his homeland.
In addition to his work being inspired by his sojourn to the countryside, Dvořák had a battle with the German music publisher, Simrock, who had been publishing his works. He felt strongly that his name should be printed with the Czech spelling, Antonín, rather than the German version, Anton. Because they did not accommodate this request, he engaged the English publisher, Novello, instead – an act that was unusual at the time.
Respighi’s Fountains of Rome is a symphonic poem that musically tours the iconic fountains in Rome. A brief search on the internet says that there are over 2000 in Rome alone, so the 4 in this piece must have had very special meaning to Respighi. The poem travels in a beautiful arc from dawn to dusk, and highlights the beauty of the Naiads and Tritons dancing amidst the water. Respighi’s work utilizes various instruments to “give expression to the sentiments and vision suggested to him by four of Rome’s fountains contemplated at the hour in which their character is most in harmony with the surrounding landscape” (Calvin Dotsy, Program notes from Houston Symphony). YPSO will bring this scenery to life, while highlighting various parts of the orchestra.
This concert will also feature the talents of two of YPSO’s Concerto Competition winners – Lucy Nemeth and Isabelle Brown-Lyden. Lucy, who is concertmaster at YPSO this year, will be performing the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Isabelle, who plays cello, will be performing Bruch’s Kol Nidrei.
Oakland Violinist Lucy Nemeth, 17, has been a member of the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra for three years. In addition to music, she loves to travel, and her music tours include Chicago IL, Cleveland OH, Seattle WA, Victoria, and Vancouver. She has also performed in Denver CO, Philadelphia PA, Ann Arbor MI, and Los Angeles, CA.
Lucy enjoys playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor because it incorporates both classical and romantic elements, which are illuminated by his classic and forward-thinking compositional choices. “This concerto is a familiar and celebrated piece in the violin repertoire, so it is a privilege to perform it with the orchestra.”
Isabelle Brown-Lyden is a cellist and a senior in high school. She is also a tennis player and loves to draw in her spare time.
Isabelle will be performing the Kol Nidrei, which was adapted for the Cello by German composer Max Bruch, but actually has a very rich Jewish history. “Kol Nidrei holds powerfully universal emotions which I hope to channel with my playing”.
YPSO continues its 2019-2020 season with this Winter Concert line-up on February 29th. They will wrap up their season in a Summer 2020 tour to the European cities of Leipzig, Vienna and Prague, performing in notable venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna.
Founded in Berkeley in 1936, YPSO is the oldest youth orchestra in California and the first independent youth orchestra in the nation. The 2019-2020 season is the 83nd since violinist and conductor Jessica Marcelli founded YSPO at the suggestion of Clarabelle Bell, an amateur harpist and Berkeley resident, who got the idea after hearing a youth orchestra on a trip to Portland, Oregon.
YPSO’s mission is to “encourage young people to become exemplary musicians and young musicians to become exemplary people”. The organization puts on four regular concerts per season. In addition, YPSO reaches out through programs such as Bread and Roses (www.breadandroses.org ) to bring music into the lives of the surrounding community and to encourage the development of great values for each and every one of its students.
YPSO is funded in part by the Berkeley Civic Arts Grant, Kiwanis Club of Berkeley, Alameda County Arts Commission, individual and foundation donors, and the friends and families of YPSO students.