USM School of Music

usm home | a-z index | contacts | help

School of Music performance

Young musicians to perform in Merrill Auditorium

Performers come from the towns of: Arundel, Biddeford, Brunswick, Buxton, Cape Elizabeth, Cape Porpoise, Casco, Cumberland, East Waterboro, Falmouth, Freeport, Fryeburg, Gorham, Gray, Harrison, Hebron, Hollis, Kennebunk/port, Lewiston, Liberty, Limington, Madison, New Gloucester, Newcastle, North Waterboro, Old Orchard Beach, Poland, Portland, Saco, Scarborough, South Berwick, South Freeport, South Paris, South Portland, Standish, Topsham, Wells, Westbrook, Windham, Yarmouth and York; plus Conway and Dover, N.H.

To conclude its 12th season of bringing a high quality musical ensemble experience to middle and high school students, the USM Youth Ensembles program will present four of its instrumental ensembles in concert 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 16, 2009, in Merrill Auditorium, Portland City Hall.

More than 200 young musicians from all over the southern half of the state and New Hampshire will perform. A reception will follow in the rehearsal room at the rear of the auditorium. Suggested donation is $6 for adults; $3 for seniors and students. Seating is unreserved. Call 780-5555 for more information.

Administrated through the University of Southern Maine School of Music, the program is run with the support of the Sam L. Cohen Foundation.

The evening will begin with the announcement of the winner of the Martha J. Blood Scholarship to one of the young players. The scholarship was created to reward exceptional musical ability. All competitors must be members in good standing of the USM Youth Ensembles during the full academic year in which the competition is held.

The concert gets underway with the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, Peter Martin, conductor. They will perform “Festive Overture” by Dmitri Shostakovich, transcribed by Donald Hunsberger; and “Terpsichore” (after Michael Praetorius) by Bob Margolis.

Following a brief staging pause, Portland Young People’s String Consort, conducted by Deborah Dabczynnski, will perform “Dramatic Essay” by Mark Williams; “Toucan Tango” by Bob Phillips; Richard Meyer’s arrangement of Handel’s “Hornpipe from the Water Music”; and Meyer’s “Ridin' the Rails.”

The Portland Youth Junior Orchestra, under the direction of Dan Keller, will perform next – the Allegro movement from “Sinfonia No. 2” by C. Ph. Em. Bach; “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5” by Heitor Villa-Lobos; “Aria” arranged by John Krance; and “Calypso Jam” by Dean Marshall.

The final ensemble to take the stage will be the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra with a guest conductor, Ferdinand Liva. He is a member of the DaPonte String Quartet and conducts the Sea Coast Youth Orchestra and the Sea Coast Community Orchestra. The PYSO will perform “Night on the Bare Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky, made famous by Disney’s film, “Fantasia”; and "Russian Easter Overture" Opus 36 by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakoff. In the Russian Easter Festival Overture the tunes are largely from the Russian orthodox liturgy, based on a collection of old Russian Orthodox canticles called the Obikhod. About this overture, the composer wrote he recreated "the legendary and heathen aspect of the holiday, and the transition from the solemnity and mystery of the evening of Passion Saturday to the unbridled pagan-religious celebrations of Easter Sunday morning."

Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in this program,
contact Emmanuelle Chaulet at 780-5146.
Hearing impaired: call USM's telex / TDD number 780-5646

Click "back" on your browser, or go to
USM Music Home