Phila. Young Artists Orchestra Performs 23rd Annual Festival Concert

On Sunday, May 13, 2018 at 3 p.m. the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra (PYAO) members, ages 12 to 18, will present its 23rd Annual Festival Concert. The concert will be held in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Conducted by Maestra Rosalind Erwin, the concert will feature the winner of the Fourth Annual Young Artists Solo Competition winner, Lea Wang, violinist. Wang, who placed first in the competition out of more than a dozen applicants, will perform Pablo de Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen ("Gypsy Airs") and receive a $500 scholarship award from PYO. She resides in Holland in Bucks County, PA and is an 8th grade student at Holland Middle School.

The program will also include Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and Antonín Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World."

Maestra Erwin, who is also Conductor and Music Director of Drexel University Orchestra, looks forward to this final PYAO concert of the 2017/2018 season. "Each spring, I am impressed by the musical sophistication and technical facility gained by PYAO students over the course of the year. The Festival Concert will be yet another example of PYAO's excellent work; I could not be prouder of this group of young musicians."

Tickets to this event are $10-$20. For tickets, please call Ticket Philadelphia at (215) 893-1999.

Lea Wang is Co-Concertmaster of PYAO and is a distinguished honors student. She began studying piano at age four and violin at age six. In addition to being with PYAO, she served as the Concertmaster of the Bucks County Music Festivals in both 2017 and 2018. Lea won first place in the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra's (BCSO) 2017 Youth Solo Competition and is the recipient of the Jeanne Marvin Phillips Prize. She soloed with the BCSO in its December 2017 concert. She is also the recipient of the 2017 Marie Paxson Fund Prize presented by the Delaware Valley Music Club and soloed in its Young Performers Concert in March 2018. Lea spent the summer of 2017 at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, playing as the first violinist in a string quartet and serving as the concertmaster of the String Intensive Orchestra. In the summer of 2016, she attended the advanced chamber music program at Point CounterPoint music camp in Vermont, playing in a piano trio (as a violinist) and a quartet (as a pianist). Lea was a Silver Medalist at the 2016 Pennsylvania Math 24 Tournament and a 2016 Pennsylvania State Finalist in the National Geographic Bee. She placed first at the 2017 Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Fairs at both the regional and state levels. She enjoys reading, swimming, coding, and traveling the world.

The Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra prepares students through a sophisticated repertoire and rigorous intellectual and musical discipline. PYAO further provides the opportunity to work with a highly experienced professional conductor, musicians, and teachers; to rehearse a standard orchestral repertoire at a professional level; and to perform in high-profile professional venues throughout the greater Philadelphia region.

Now in its 78th year of training tomorrow's leaders, the renowned Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization is one of the nation's oldest and most respected community music education and youth orchestra performance programs, providing talented young musicians from across the tri-state area with exceptional musical training. Students go on to excel in many diverse fields, and it is with pride that Philadelphia Youth Orchestra notes that many members of the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra are alumni. For more information, please visit www.pyos.org.

The anchor group is the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO), conducted by President and Music Director Louis Scaglione, featuring 120 gifted instrumentalists who range in age from 14-21. Young musicians 12-18 years old are featured in PYO's companion ensemble, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, which is led by Director and Conductor Maestra Rosalind Erwin, who is Music Director and Conductor of Drexel University Orchestra. Philadelphia Young Musicians Orchestra (PYMO), directed by Maestro Kenneth Bean, is a beginning to intermediate-level full symphonic orchestra that provides most students with their first introduction to large orchestral playing featuring students age 10-17 years old. Bravo Brass, directed by Curtis Institute Dean of Faculty and Students, Paul Bryan, is an all brass ensemble for promising middle and high-school instrumentalists. PRYSM (Philadelphia Region Youth String Music) and PRYSM Young Artists ensembles provide string large ensemble and sectional master class instruction for beginning and intermediate musicians ages 6-14. The director and conductor of PRYSM is Gloria DePasquale, cellist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and conductor of PRYSM Young Artists is Andrea Weber. Tune Up Philly (TUP) is PYO's engagement program, directed by Paul Smith, that focuses on creating and inspiring true community by providing children in under-resourced communities with invaluable opportunities to learn and perform a differentiated orchestral music curriculum.

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