1. If you go
■ What: Greater Miami Youth
Symphony and Youth Orchestra
of Palm Beach County Collabo-
ration Concert
■ Where: Wertheim Performing
Arts Center, FIU-South Campus,
11200 SW Eighth St.
■ When: 4 p.m. Sunday
■ Cost: $15 adults, $7 seniors/stu-
dents
■ Phone: 305-348-2895
SOUTH FLORIDA
Young musicians gear up for the big stage
■More than 300 of South
Florida’s most promising
young musicians will take the
stage Sunday at Florida
International University’s
Wertheim Performing Arts
Center.
BY SALVATORE FAZIO
SOUTH FLORIDA NEWS SERVICE
When Sara Arevalo started
playing the violin at 8, she
learned to express her feelings
through the instrument.
Now at 13, the Arvida Middle
School student is exploring a
new facet of her musical growth:
being part of an orchestra
through the Greater Miami
Youth Symphony.
‘‘It’s going to be exciting to
play with the orchestra,’’ said
Arevalo during a recent Sunday
afternoon rehearsal.
Arevalo will be among more
than 300 of South Florida’s most
promising young musicians who
will take the stage Sunday at
Florida International Universi-
ty’s Wertheim Performing Arts
Center for a joint concert
between the Miami symphony
and the Youth Orchestra of Palm
Beach County. It is their third
annual Youth Orchestra Collabo-
ration Concert.
Southwood Middle School
student Athalie Vaval 12, said she
has been rehearsing for weeks on
her viola. ‘‘I’m excited and a little
nervous,’’ she said. ‘‘But I’m sure
it’ll be very fun.’’
The concert will showcase six
segment orchestras from each
orchestra, playing side by side,
said Miami Symphony Executive
Director Melissa Lesniak, 32.
The six orchestras will per-
form works ranging from Pyotr
Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and
Antonin Dvorak’s New World
Symphony to Leroy Anderson’s
Bugler’s Holiday and Ted Rick-
ets’ arrangement of Satchmo: A
tribute to Louis Armstrong.
Manuel Capote, 58, music
director for the Palm Beach
orchestra, suggested Satchmo to
complement the traditional sym-
phonic music with New Orleans
Dixieland Jazz.
‘‘It’s very much a tribute to
Louis Armstrong’s famous hits
within a symphonic context,’’
Capote said.
Capote and GMYS music
director Huifang Chen, who have
known each other for 16 years
and had been colleagues at the
Florida Philharmonic Orchestra,
started planning some of the
concert’s program in January.
‘‘We wanted to do something
a little different,’’ said Chen, 40.
‘‘In deciding the program, we
wanted to contrast some of the
old with some new things.’’
Lesniak, who will conduct an
arrangement of Vittorio Monti’s
Csàrdàs, said the concert will
give young musicians the chance
to experience common practices
in the professional music envi-
ronment.
‘‘It’s very good for kids this
age to be exposed to different
conductors, having to work with
other players and adapt quickly
to new circumstances,’’ she said.
Capote said the experience is
invaluable for young musicians.
‘‘It’s a chance for kids to blend
together and socialize, and it’s
also a chance for my kids to work
with Huifang [Chen] and for her
kids to work with me,’’ he said.
Amanda Gomez, 17, who plays
the French horn for the Palm
Beach orchestra, will perform
Sibelius’ Finlandia, Dvorak’s
New World Symphony and
Satchmo: A tribute to Louis Arm-
strong.
‘‘For musicians, it’s important
to be able to collaborate with
everybody and to do it quickly,’’
Gomez said. ‘‘Not every conduc-
tor will want you to play the
same way.’’
Eugene Timmons, 55, GMYS
band director, said each orches-
tra will rehearse individually
until hours before the concert.
Then, the orchestras will
rehearse together for the first
time.
‘‘We are practicing the songs
that they want to play and they
are practicing the songs that we
want to play. Then we combine
it as a side-by-side concert,’’ said
Timmons, who will conduct
Bugler’s Holiday.
Both Lesniak and Capote view
their collaboration as a connec-
tion to their musical past.
‘‘It’s great for me to do this
collaboration because I was in
the Youth Orchestra of Palm
Beach County when it first
started in 1994,’’ Lesniak said.
‘‘It’s cool to get to combine with
people that belong to a place
where I used to be a student.’’
Capote, who grew up in
Miami and was a member of the
Greater Miami Youth orchestra
during the 1960s, agrees.
‘‘Melissa is an alumnus of
YOPBC while I am an alumnus
of the GMYS,’’ he said. ‘‘Now
she’s down there and I’m up
here. It’s a small world.’’
6SE SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2010 MiamiHerald.com THE MIAMI HERALD
PHOTOS BY CHRIS CUTRO/FOR THE MIAMI HERALD
TALENT: Matthew Eisenberg, 13, of Palmetto Bay, practices for the Greater Miami Youth
Symphony at the Miami Dade College Kendall Campus. Below, David Joaceus, 15, of Miami,
works on his French horn. To listen to an audio slide show, visit www.MiamiHerald.com.
Story HZNSE060321 System MIAE by CMCPHERSON Time 22:28:11 Date 3/19/10
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