Salute to Youth Winners Shenae Anderson & Kana Yoshigi Set for Utah Symphony's All Star Evening

The state's very best high school instrumentalists are invited to perform side-by-side with the Utah Symphony under the direction of Associate Conductor Vladimir Kulenovic in a concert presenting works by Mendelssohn and Dvo?ák. Mendelssohn's Double Concerto for Violin and Piano will be performed by the winners of the Salute to Youth competition, Shenae Anderson, violin, and Kana Yoshigi, piano. Also on the program is Dvo?ák's famous Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World." May 19 at 7 p.m. at Abravanel Hall. Tickets, priced from $6 to $18, are available for purchase through www.utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 355-2787.

Mendelssohn, a child prodigy, composed his Double Concerto for Violin and Piano at the young age of 14. Though seemingly opposite instruments, Mendelssohn scores his piece allowing both instruments, violin and piano to shine in their own strengths. Romantic in nature, this work is full of excitement and virtuosity, showcasing the talent of the young musicians gracing the stage.

Shenae Anderson, 16, has soloed with the Utah Symphony on several occasions, in 2008 and 2010 with the Salute to Youth competition. In 2010 she was invited back by Maestro Fischer to be a guest soloist with the Utah Symphony for their assistant conductor auditions. Shenae has won numerous competitions including Youth Guild, MTNA, Utah State Fair, and was winner of the Stradivarius International Violin Competition Utah Division in 2014. A student of Eugene Watanabe, Shenae is graduating from high school early and will be attending Juilliard in the fall.

"I'm really excited to play with Kana. She and I both started studying with the Watanabes at about the same time. From the beginning, the Watanabes thought we would be a good match for an ensemble and we've been playing together ever since," said Ms. Anderson. "Kana is one of my really close friends. We have so much in common and I'm really glad that we've been able to work together for so long."

Kana Yoshigi, 16, also is already an accomplished musician. This will be her third performance soloing with the Utah Symphony as part of the Salute to Youth Concerts. Kana has performed under the baton of Leon Fleisher and was chosen as a winner of the Beverley Sorenson Foundation Piano Competition, performing with the Utah Chamber Artists Orchestra. She was also chosen as one of the seven semi-finalists at the 2013 Yamaha International Junior Piano Competition and has performed at Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. Kana is a full scholarship student at the Gifted Music School studying with Dr. Vera Oussetskaia-Watanabe.

Dvo?ák's "New World Symphony" is his most popular composition and a standard in the orchestral repertory. It is a popular and significant composition, so much so that Neil Armstrong took a recording of this work to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969. As the nickname suggests, the piece takes its inspiration from the New World: America. Dvo?ák does not directly quote Native American songs or African American Spirituals, but rather embodies the character and mood of these genres.

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