PREPARATORY STRINGSILLINOIS MUSIC EDUCATION CONFERENCE

Orchestra Division Performance | January 28, 2016

WORLD-CLASS TRAINING

ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITIES

NOW AUDITIONING FOR THE 2016-2017 SEASON!

Seven orchestras open to ages 6 - 18.Auditions to take place April 2016.

VISIT CYSO.ORG/AUDITION

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Music Director, Allen Tinkham, and the entire Chicago Youth Sympho-ny Orchestras community, I want to thank the Illinois Music Education Association for the honor of play-ing for you today. Each year, I am astonished by the growth that our young musicians make as individuals, musicians, and as an orchestra. Today represents hours of individual practice, months of weekend re-hearsals, and countless car, train, and bus rides to and from downtown Chicago.

As you read this letter, I invite you to take a moment to look at the stage filled with young faces. Over the past 69 years, CYSO stages have been filled with thousands of young students, each with their own ambitions. Those chairs were once occupied by another aspiring young musician who today is a professional musician, teacher, doctor, lawyer, engineer, business leader, civic leader, a parent... and the list goes on. It is exciting to think about where these young students will be in five, ten, or twenty years from now, and I hope their experiences at CYSO and in their school music programs, no matter what professional field they choose, will help them become tomorrow’s leaders.

I also want to congratulate our conductor, Daniella Valdez, on the extraordinary work she does with our students. In her 10 years at CYSO I am continually impressed and amazed by the depth of her musicianship and the breadth of her skills. She is an ex-cellent teacher with a tremendous sense of responsibility and care for the needs of her students.

I am deeply proud of the commitment and hard work that each student puts into their CYSO experience and hope you will join me in congratulating them. They are the reason we are here— to give each and every student the opportunity to express themselves creatively, and as CYSO’s mission states, to cultivate and inspire personal excellence through music.

With deepest gratitude,

WELCOME

Joshua SimondsExecutive DirectorChicago Youth Symphony Orchestras

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Preparatory Strings Illinois Music Education ConferenceThursday, January 28, 2016Peoria Civic Center

Daniella Valdez, conductor Joshua Simonds, Executive DirectorAnne McTighe, conductor Allen Tinkham, Music Director

sharing program with:Rolling Meadows High School Symphony Orchestra Kevin Carroll (CYSO alumnus), conductor

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Serenata Notturnaarr. Parrish

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Organ Fugue in G Minorarr. Cerulli

Michael Senturia (b. 1937) Allegro Giocoso Anne McTighe, conductor

Richard Meyer (b. 1952) Ear-Igami Anne McTighe, conductor

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Interlude (from Rhapsody arr. Monday in B Minor, Op. 79, No. 1) Doug Spata (b. 1975) Crusader

ViolinRami AlkadriElizabeth Allen-GabinHala AtassiMaya AtassiHenry AuxenfansBaron BalfourDean BarrowAlexander BautistaJolisa CageMengzhu CaiAvery CalhoonLeon CaoNikki ChopraYsabel ColitaClara CuiBeck EdwardsAlice FanWells GjerlowChance InouyeSamantha IrwinUme JorgensenFaiyaz KhanJulia Kim

Avital LaCroix Nourit LaCroixSam LiYanchen LiuDavid McDermottViolet NashGrace PattersonAnthony PrzeszloMadeline RenIsabella RossiUma Schroeder-MonasteriosEugenie SchusterAmarin SharmaHalime SheroEmma SnyderCarolina SperekasClaire StrogerSaira TorresDante VairusRaymond WangSola WestAmanda Woolley

ViolaEllen CampbellStephanie FinebergBenjamin KimKene Obiaya

CelloKai DizonJack KahanGabriela ManzanoLetterio MontalbanoAlejandro QuilesYaseen QureshiKierson RickmonJulia Soto

BassNaomi Loos

PercussionFrederick McClure, Jr. *

* Symphony Orchestra mem-ber performing on Ear-Igami

PREPARATORY STRINGSPreparatory Strings provides string orchestra training to predominantly elementary school aged student musicians who read music and have at least two years of playing experience on their instruments. Weekly rehearsals focus on technique, ensemble performance skills, basic string repertoire, and music theory. The Preparatory Strings season includes two performances at local venues that have included Harris Theater and Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

ABOUT CYSO

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras has provided music education through orchestral programs and performance opportunities of the highest caliber since 1946.

CYSO serves more than 500 students ages 6-18 through three full orchestras, three string orchestras, and supplemental programs including chamber music ensembles, music theory, and composition. CYSO musicians receive superb orchestral and chamber music instruction from Chicago’s most respected professional musicians, performs in the world’s greatest concert halls, and gain the self-confidence and discipline necessary for a successful future.

CYSO’s Community Engagement Programs connect with the Chicago community through several components including community concerts in Chicago, in-school concerts for Chicago Public Schools students, and our award-winning Music Path-ways in-school residency program, which provides tailored support for music teach-ers. Through these components, CYSO Community Engagement Programs inspire and cultivate personal excellence by supporting instrumental music training and music access among thousands of Chicago youth.

100% of CYSO graduates pursue college studies, often at the most prestigious universities and conservatories in the nation. Students go on to become professional musicians in the world’s finest orchestras and music ensembles, and are also found working as teachers, community leaders, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and busi-ness professionals. Most importantly, whether or not students continue their music studies after high school, they leave with a strong sense of discipline, increased confidence, and a deep appreciation for music and the arts.

DANIELLA VALDEZ, Director of String EnsemblesDaniella Valdez is the conductor of CYSO’s Preparatory Strings and Accelerando Strings ensembles. She received her musical training at Texas Tech University and Northwestern University School of Music, where she received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, respectively. A native of Texas, she began study-ing violin at the age of ten. She went on to study in intensive string pedagogy programs with Dr. Cynthia Scully at Texas Tech University and Dr. Jame Kjelland and Stacia Spencer at Northwestern University.

In 2011, she joined the faculty staff at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, Illi-nois, as the Director of Orchestras. In this capacity she conducts one full orches-tra, two string ensembles and teaches guitar classes. Prior to her appointment at Maine West High School, she was an orchestra director at Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, IL.

Her career as a music educator and violinist has led to developing strong and successful orchestra programs. An accomplished orchestra director, she has led ensembles to receive superior ratings in the Illinois Grade Music As-sociation Organizational Contest and participated as a Lab Orchestra at The Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference. Her students are also participants of the Illinois Music Educators Association Honor Orchestra Festivals and the Illinois Grade School Music Association Solo and Ensemble Festival. During her time in Texas, her orchestras received excellent ratings in the University Interscholastic League Orchestra Concert and Sight Reading Contest. Students also participated in the Region X All-Region Middle School Honor Orchestra Contest affil-iated with the Texas Music Educators Association. Ms. Valdez is an active judge and clinician for solo and ensemble, district festivals, and chamber music district festivals. She also is an active member of the National Association for Music Education and the American String Teacher Association.

Ms. Valdez has performed with several ensembles in Texas and in surrounding areas of Chicago including the Lub-bock Symphony Orchestra, the Abilene Symphony Orchestra, the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Evanston Symphony Orchestra. Also an accomplished commercial player, she has performed on stage with Chuck Mangione, Marvin Hamlish, Toni Tennille, and John Pizzarelli.

ANNE MCTIGHE, Overture Strings Conductor, Preparatory Strings Assistant ConductorBorn in Boston, Anne began playing violin at the age of three and joined her first orchestra in second grade. Later, she joined a youth orchestra program at The Rivers School Conservatory, eventually serving as concertmistress of the Rivers Youth Symphony Orchestra. Anne toured Europe twice with American Music Abroad, where she had the opportunity to play concerts at Schönbrunn Palace and the Normandy American Cemetery on the Fourth of July. Anne has collaborated and performed with the Sisai Ensemble, an Andean music group in the Chicago area. Over the summer, she has studied Baroque bow making with a faculty member of the North Bennett Street School in Boston.

Anne received a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and was a member of the Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra and Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. While at Northwestern, Anne studied in Vienna and taught music and English in a local school. Anne introduced her Viennese students to stop-motion animation, using it to explore the connection between music, stories, and emotions. As a Northwestern student, Anne became a Music Mentor to teens at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, where she taught music composition using GarageBand and conducted research on the program’s effectiveness for Dr. Maud Hickey.

Anne is currently a Band and Orchestra Director at Highcrest Middle School in Wilmette, IL. In this position, Anne begins fifth grade students on violin, viola, cello, and bass. She also conducts Beginning Band, Beginning Orchestra, Hawk Orchestra, and Wire Choir. Anne has worked as an Orchestra Teacher in Northbrook/Glenview and taught at The People’s Music School and The Rivers School Conservatory Summer Music Program, leading orchestras, coach-ing chamber groups, and providing private instruction.

Anne joined CYSO in August 2013, working with Director of String Orchestras, Daniella Valdez, as the Preparatory Strings Assistant Conductor. She was appointed Conductor of Overture Strings when it was established in 2014.

CONDUCTORS

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