Featuring
Youth Symphony Seniors
Westchester Youth Symphony
Richard Simons
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 15, 2024 7 pm
Hankin Auditorium, Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York
The Lewis- Lionti Sonata Concert was established by the GWYOA Board in 1997. The concert provides outstanding Youth Symphony seniors an opportunity to perform a major concerto with full orchestral accompaniment. In addition to recognizing the musical accomplishment of our students, the concert was established to honor the many years of dedicated GYWOA service rendered by Dale Lewis, former director of Junior String, and Victor Lionti, former conductor of Youth Symphony. This year's concert includes pieces from traditionally underrepresented artists, performances by our graduating seniors in solos, duets, trios, quartets, and chamber pieces, and a special appearance by GWYOA alumnus, Richard Simons.
Westchester Youth Symphony
Kathleen Feldman, conductor
Contrasts: The Gavotte, A.D. 1700-1900, Op.10 No. 3
EDWARD ELGAR
(1857 – 1934)
Cosmos Symphony
ANDREW XU, Class of 2025
(b. 2007)
Dragon Racing from How to Train Your Dragon
JOHN POWELL
Arranged by NATE HOPPER (Class of 2024, b. 1963)
•••
Westchester Youth Symphony Seniors
Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96
ANTONIN DVORAK(1841-1904)
I. Allegro ma non troppo
Ollie Baccay, Reese Wang, violin
Lionel Yu, viola, Andrew Xu, cello
A Town with an Ocean View
JOE HISAISHI (b. 1950)
Chaeyoung Lee, flute, Joseph Berger, clarinet
Rhapsodic Musings
ELLIOT CARTER (1908-2012)
Naveen Tomlinson, violin
Seven
ANDREA CASARRUBIOS (b. 1988)
Jad Benslimane, Cello
Laudatio
BERNHARD KROL (1920 -2013)
Benjamin Wien, French Horn
Duet
NINO ROTA (1911-1979)
Christina Huerta-Stylianou, Trumpet, Ava Snyder, Double Bass
Serenade, Op. 110 No. 2
GEORG GOLTERMANN (1824-1898)
Cello Ensemble
Jad Benslimane, Jordan Brown, Issac Chong, Zachary Geller,
Emilly Moskowitz, Caera O’Brien, Andrew Song, Hazel Tjaden
•••
Westchester Youth Symphony
Richard Simons, guest conductor
Semiramide Overture
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI (1792 -1868)
2023- 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award Honoree:
Richard Simons
Richard Milan Simons is one of the world’s only conductor-conductors– both railroad and orchestra. He is a railroad conductor for Metro-North Railroad. He is also the orchestra conductor for the orchestras at SUNY Dutchess and SUNY Orange community colleges, as well as the Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra. He studied the Double Bass at the University of South Carolina, and the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, where he learned from Gary Karr, Dianna Gannett, Mark Morton, and Robert Black. He won concerto competitions at both schools, and has performed solos with several orchestras, as well as the Emerson String Quartet. Besides the double bass, he also plays cello and viola. Mr. Simons arranges and composes music, and premiered his Symphony No.1 (“The Reckoning”) this past October.
Rich attended the Conductor’s Institute summer program for several years– but as a player in the workshop orchestra, and not as a conducting student. Nevertheless, the conducting bug “bit”, and in 1993 Mr. Simons created the Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra to put into practice what he had observed at the Conductor’s Institute. Since then, he has been invited to conduct the Hudson Opera Theatre, the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra, and at the Sullivan County All-County Festival. When Rich finds people who have stopped playing their instruments, he always encourages them to return. He recently created www.orchestrainfo.com, which includes a listing of all instrumental ensembles in the Hudson Valley region, so people can find a place to play. He collects electric trains, and lives with his wife Debbie (and their four cats) in a house that they designed together.
Kathleen Coletta Feldman, Conductor
The 2023-2024 season marks Kathleen Feldman’s third year as conductor of Youth Symphony for GWYOA. Ms. Feldman is a music teacher with the Chappaqua Central School District, where she has taught string district-wide since 2005. She is currently the orchestra director at Horace Greeley High School and teaches courses in music history and theory. She performs regularly with local orchestras and has served as guest conductor for The Chappaqua Orchestra’s summer pops concerts. As past president of the Westchester County School Music Association, she is currently an advisor to the Board of Directors. Prior to her work with GWYOA, she was orchestra director for the Westchester Putnam Youth Symphony, Senior and Junior divisions. Kathleen Feldman holds degrees in violin performance from Purchase College (SUNY) and music education from Manhattanville College (MAT), as well as a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from Boston University.
Westchester Youth Symphony
Violin I
♪Naveen Tomlinson
♪♪Aniketh Arvind
♪♪Jonathan Bai
Koh Ando
Ollie Baccay
Olivia Chen
Sara Driver
Maria Eberhardt
Alice Enokida
Arya Goyal
Katie Hung
Aleah Inoue
Sumiran Margolis
Keilah Om
Srivatsan Srinivasan
Reese Wang
Lillianne Williams-Ameen
Alyssum Wong
Ava Wu
Candice Yu
Rebecca Zhang
Cello
Jad Benslimane
Camilla Browand
Jordan Brown
Lauren Capurso
Sydney Chin
Issac Chong
Zachary Geller
Evan Gilliam
Scarlett Hartzman
Trisha Iyer
Conner Kim
Sam Kono
Hannah Loges
Emilly Moskowitz
Caera O’Brien
Richa Patil
Aadi Sethi
Andrew Song
Hazel Tjaden^^
Leon Wang
Andrew Xu
Jordan Zhao
Violin II
Thomas Xin^
Natalie Baccay
Leon Bajic
Alexander Bond
Andy Cao
Cindy Chen
Ariana Chung
Amy Feng
Albert Huang
Sara Jankovic
Ryan Lee
Avi Medar
April Middleton
Justine Pascutti
Gabriella Rubinfine
Brian Song
Daniel Song
Amir Thalappillil
Serina Tomioka
Rudolf Tseng
Karen Yang
Bass
Jake Siegel^
Liam Lobl
Catherine Lynch
Samira Phillips
Ava Snyder
Flute
Chaeyoung Lee^
Kira Lee
Nina Lyppens
Sophie Tanios
Piccolo
Julia Whalen
Percussion
Christopher Abbamont^
Paolo Ciaramitaro^
Vivian Ellsworth
Alexa Frusciante
♪Concertmaster
♪♪Assistant Concertmaster
^Principal
^^Assistant-Principal
Viola
Jordan Pak^
Lydia Lung^^
Jason Cai
Verity Chao
Daniel Cho
Kaavya Girdhar
Amani Gupta
Karissa Hinds
Sophia Intravaia
Lily Lebwohl
Charlotte Wilke-Olsen
Carol Yang
Lionel Yu
Oboe
TianTong Wang^
Drew Neiman
Aanya Shetty
Natalie Wang
Clarinet
Hannah Sigurdsson^
Sally Anderson
Haley Berger
Joseph Berger
Sofia Gould
Bassoon
Ayaka Utsumi
French Horn
Benjamin Wien^
Nate Hopper^^
Sofia Carrillo
Olive Copeland
Natalie Lord
Trumpet
William Fenton
Christina Huerta-Stylianou
Advait Huggahalli
Colin Rubsamen
Trombone
Angelina Pineiro
Amanda Rimm-Hewitt, guest
Tuba
Benjamin Posner
Board of Directors
Victoria Kravitz President
Margaret Bond Vice President
Paul Pak Treasurer
Elena Neyman Secretary
Iris Wong Auditions Liaison, Bookkeeper
Laura Chmielewski Archivist, Print Content Coordinator
Farhad Ameen Assistant Treasurer
Westchester Elementary Strings
Bernard Klinger Conductor
Min Lucy Luo Liaison
Ying Yang Liaison
Westchester Junior Strings
Jacqueline Stern Conductor
Katrina Choi Liaison
Candy Hwang Liaison
Victoria Kravitz Liaison
Westchester Youth Symphony
Kathleen Coletta Feldman Conductor
Farhad Ameen Liaison
Elena Inoue Liaison
Sujatha Thalappillil Liaison
Spring Gala Concert
Sunday, April 28, 2024 David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
Open Auditions for the 2024-2025 Season
GWYOA welcome new musicians and current members moving up to participate in another exciting season of inspiring music! Auditions for new musicians interested in joining Junior Strings and Youth Symphony will be Saturday, May 4, 2024. Auditions for new musicians interested in joining Elementary Strings and Junior Strings wishing to move up to the next orchestra will be held on Monday, May 6, 2024.
For complete information and to register, visit www.gwyoa.org
Greater Westchester Youth Orchestra is a non-profit organization providing excellent grounding in cooperation, helping young people to develop self-esteem, and promoting harmony of our ethnically diverse community through classical music training. GWYOA consists of three orchestras made up of students in grades four through twelve from Westchester County and surrounding counties in the Tri-State Area.