Centenary Youth Orchestra presents spring concert April 18

SHREVEPORT – The Centenary Youth Orchestra (CYO) will present its spring concert, "Springtide," Monday, April 18, at 7:00 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium at the Hurley School of Music. The concert is free and open to the public and masks must be worn. The concert will also be streamed at centenary.edu/cyo.

The performance celebrating spring and new beginnings will feature a number of outstanding soloists, including Hurley School of Music vocal professor, soprano Dr. Janani Sridhar, and Dean of the Hurley School of Music, tenor Dr. Cory Wikan, singing "Tonight" from West Side Story. In addition to performing with Wikan, Sridhar will treat the audience to the tender and lush aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" from Giacchino Puccini's opera, Gianni Schicchi.

"Sridhar has been busy performing many recitals showcasing her immense talents this year,” said Santelices. “I was so moved by the range of her selections for these but none more so than hearing her do the Puccini. It is such a privilege to have both she and Dr. Wikan, who makes his return to the concert stage at this event, grace us with their talents.”

The concert also showcases the winners of the 2021 CYO Concerto Competition; an updated version of a piece for string orchestra composed by Shreveport Symphony Orchestra principal horn and conductor of the Centenary Wind Ensemble, Thomas Hundemer; and the orchestral conducting debut of Centenary graduating senior, Devin Bureau, who will conduct Lili Boulanger's "D'un Matin de Printemps" (Spring Morning).

"Devin has been a fantastic supporter over the years of all of his classmates who are part of the CYO,” said Dan Santelices, director of the CYO. “He impressed me when he worked with the group during Orchestration Projects that were a part of his class this past December. To say that he is passionate about the music of Lili Boulanger is certainly an understatement. He has been given the opportunity to present an entire concert later this month."

Next on the program will be the two winners of the CYO Concerto Competition held last November. Ashini Modi will perform the expressive second movement, Adagio, of Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. She is a graduating senior attending Caddo Magnet High School and is a pupil of the Centenary Suzuki School where her teachers include Laura Crawford, Charles Regauer, and Jennifer Miranne. Modi is a repeat winner of the CYO Concerto Competition, having performed the finale of the Mozart Concerto No. 3 in 2020.

Neelie Lim will perform Ralph Vaughn-Williams' The Lark Ascending, both a showcase for the violin and a tone poem highlighting the English countryside based on an actual poem. Lim is also a graduating senior attending Caddo Magnet High School and a student in the Centenary Suzuki School. Her teachers include Laura Crawford and Adrienne Gabriel. Lim has been a past co-concertmaster for the CYO.

Tom Hundemer’s "Lachrymosa" for Strings was first premiered by the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s. When invited to have his composition re-introduced to a public performance, Hundemer saw an opportunity to tweak portions of this evocative, emotional piece. Hundemer retired in 2021 as the Librarian for the Hurley School of Music but still maintains a lively performing and teaching schedule.

The concert will conclude with the full CYO performing Felix Mendelssohn's Overture to Fingal's Cave, otherwise known as "The Hebrides.” The performance will showcase their musical prowess presenting the tranquil and stormy shores of coastal Scotland.        

 

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