Centenary Youth Orchestra sets 2016-2017 auditions
SHREVEPORT, LA — Auditions for the third season of the Centenary Youth Orchestra will be held on August 13 and 27 at 1:00 p.m. in the Feazel Rehearsal Hall at Centenary's Hurley School of Music. Auditions are open to high school and advanced middle school orchestral musicians. The group rehearses and performs under the direction of Dr. Todd Gabriel, associate professor of music at Centenary.
"Entering the third season of serious orchestral studies at Centenary, the Centenary Youth Orchestra has given four amazing concerts accompanying world-class soloists as well as playing its own advanced repertoire," says Gabriel. "We begin this year by accompanying two of our own high school violinists, Johnum Palado and Hannah Jordan, with a performance of J.S. Bach's Double Violin Concerto in d minor. This is an opportunity for the many young violin students who study this work to hear this staple of pedagogy in its entirety with all three amazing movements performed beautifully by young local talent."
The opening concert of the year will be presented on Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 p.m. and will focus on the diversity of styles in classical music with the French masterpiece, Pelleas and Melisande by Fauré; an Americana work by Copland, and Roses from the South, a grand Austrian waltz by the waltz-king Johann Strauss, Jr.
Orchestra director Gabriel is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City and a veteran orchestral violist with stints at the Alabama, Phoenix, and Queensland Symphony Orchestras in addition to the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with youth orchestras in Alabama and Arizona and is the Hurley School of Music Orchestra Director at Centenary.
"I am excited to share my 35 years of professional orchestral experience from three continents with these young musicians," says Gabriel. "To me, there is nothing more rewarding than being part of a large ensemble, sharing the creations of master composers."
The Youth Orchestra will rehearse on Monday nights from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. beginning on September 12. Interested musicians should contact Todd Gabriel at drgrabes@gmail.com for more information.