JAMESTOWN - Rehearsals are intensifying as the date approaches for the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony's Mother's Day concert in the Reg Lenna Civic Center.
At 4 p.m. on Sunday, all three youth orchestras will offer separate performances then join forces to conclude the program with Solstice, a piece composed for the occasion by prize-winning composer Carmen J. Aquila.
Maestro Bryan Eckenrode, conductor and music director for the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony, will conduct all three orchestras: Prelude Strings, the beginning string musicians; Young Artists Orchestra, intermediate instrumental students; and the Youth Symphony, highly talented and motivated musicians ages 13 through 20.
After joining the young musicians during their rehearsals to explain the composing process, composer Aquila will be at the concert to address the audience and meet them at a reception in his honor afterward.
A Music Instructor and Program Coordinator of the Music Department at Villa Maria College of Buffalo, Aquila's works and orchestrations have been performed in places as diverse as Toledo, Ohio and Beijing, China. A graduate of SUNY Fredonia and Bowling Green State University, he receives commissions regularly as a composer and orchestrator and also teaches piano and voice privately.
Tickets for the May 8 event are $10 presale or $12 at the door; ages 12 and under are $8 presale or $10 at the door. Children five and under are free. Presale tickets are available from members of the orchestras and the Reg Lenna Civic Center box office at 484-7070.
This concert is made possible in part by support from the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County Projects Pool Grant Program and the Judith J. Anderson Family Foundation.
For more information about the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony, go to www.CRYouthSymphony.com.
