Tacoma, WA – Music has always been a powerful tool for bringing people together and bridging cultural divides. On March 3, the Tacoma Youth Symphony will perform music from composers from two very different parts of the world. The concert will open with Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia with the hymn sung by Finnish soprano, Heidi Kankaanpää. TYS will also explore melodies from African American culture through William Grant Still’s Afro American Symphony. Violinist Svend Rønning will also perform the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius. And from right here at home, the Tacoma Youth Symphony Chamber Winds will perform the world premiere of A Tone Poem by TYS clarinetist, Ben Pelandini.
Ben Pelandini is a senior at Rogers High School in Puyallup. He has played the clarinet in the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association since the 8th grade and has also participated in the PLU concert band, UPS concert band, and the Tacoma Concert Band through their side-by-side program. As a composer he has had works performed by his high school band and the Seattle Wind Symphony. Ben has also studied the piano for 10 years. Ben plans to study composition next year in college.
Violinist Svend Rønning is Chair of the String Division at Pacific Lutheran University where he is Professor of Music and violinist with the Regency String Ensemble. He is also one of the most active performers in the Puget Sound region, serving as Concertmaster of the Symphony Tacoma as well as performing frequently as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and recording artist. Dr. Rønning also serves as the Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber Series, Tacoma’s award-winning producer of chamber music concerts and chamber music educational programs. He made his solo debut with orchestra performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G Major with the Everett Youth Symphony in 1983 under the direction of Dr. Paul-Elliott Cobbs. Since then, he has appeared in venues around the world. Dr. Rønning earned his undergraduate degree in violin performance, summa cum laude, from Pacific Lutheran University. He subsequently earned a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University. His prior teaching appointments have included faculty positions at the Eastern Music Festival and the University of Virginia.
Heidi Kankaanpää, Finnish-born soprano, has been teaching and performing in the Pacific Northwest for over 40 years. She started her musical studies first at the Espoo Music Institute, then at the Sibelius Academy, later moving to the U.S. to attend the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied voice with Irvin Bushman and piano with Olga Radosavljevich. Ms. Kankaanpää has been on the faculties of University of Puget Sound Community School, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma Community College, and Pierce College, Puyallup. Ms. Kankaanpää has toured Italy with the Everett Symphony and has been soloist with the Pori Philharmonic in Finland, the Bremerton Symphony, the Southwest Washington Youth Symphony, the Tacoma Junior Youth Symphony, the Tacoma Young Artists Orchestra, and the Tacoma Youth Symphony. In addition to teaching private piano and voice lessons, she is the Music Director and Conductor of Tahoma Voices Chorale, a community choir she helped form in 2005.
Tickets are on sale now! To purchase tickets go to www.tysamusic.org.
This concert is sponsored by the McEachern Foundation and Weddermann Architecture, PLLC.
Season sponsors are the Tacoma Arts Commission, Tacoma Creates, the Washington State Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Program supporters are ArtsFund, Sound Surgical Arts, the University of Puget Sound School of Music, and Weddermann Architecture.
