Tacoma Youth Symphony Association announcement.
Tacoma, WA – This year as part of the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association 60th Anniversary Celebration the Tacoma Youth Symphony will be revisiting music performed on past tours and TYSA alumni as soloists. On Saturday, November 19, the Tacoma Youth Symphony will open its regular season with “Symphonic Fanfare and Celebrations.”
The concert will feature the Finale from Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, performed in 2017 at the Colburn School of Music and L.A.’s Zipper Auditorium. TYSA alumnus, Charlie Powers, will also perform Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.
During his brief stay in the United States, Antonín Dvořák composed some of his most honored compositions. Though completed in Prague in 1895, the Cello Concerto in B minor belongs with this group. A performance by Victor Herbert inspired the work. In the early 1890’s Herbert was a cellist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1894 he performed his Second Cello Concerto with the New York Philharmonic. Dvořák was in the audience for the performance. He was deeply impressed with the musical possibilities offered by pairing solo cello with orchestra. Until that time, he was unsure that the cello was a viable solo instrument.
As Dvořák was working on the piece, he received word that his sister-in-law, Josefina Kaunitzova, was seriously ill. The composer was deeply concerned. In honor of Josefina, he used one of her favorite pieces, Let Me Wander Alone with My Dreams, as the main theme for the second movement.
Charlie Powers’ playing has been described by The Washington Post as “poised, elegant, supple of phrasing and mellow of tone.” He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra cello section during the 2013-2014 season. He previously served as assistant principal of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Chamber Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and performed regularly at the White House, the State Department, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Vice President’s residence.
Since making his solo debut at age 17 with the Tacoma Youth Symphony under Dr. Paul-Elliott Cobbs, Powers has appeared with orchestras throughout the United States and abroad, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra, and the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan. A proponent of new music, Powers has performed works for cello and orchestra by Aulis Sallinen and Jennifer Higdon.
A native of Tacoma, Washington, Powers began his cello studies at age three with Jeannette Chapman and joined the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association at age seven. He attended Tacoma’s Bellarmine Preparatory High School and won the Washington State Solo Contest during his senior year. After studies with John Michel at Central Washington University, Charlie graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he was a Piatigorsky Scholarship recipient and studied with Colin Carr.
Tickets are on sale now! To purchase tickets go to www.tysamusic.org.
This concert is sponsored by Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Mr. Power’s performance is sponsored by Brooke Scholl, Opus 3 Artists. Season support has been provided by Tacoma Creates, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission and the Washington State Arts Commission.
Urban Grace is located at 902 Market St in Tacoma.
