For the last twenty-seven years, Dr. Paul-Elliott Cobbs has been the Music Director of the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association and conductor of the Tacoma Youth Symphony. The beloved maestro is retiring at the end of the 2023-2024 season. On Saturday, May 18 ( 7 pm), TYSA will celebrate Dr. Cobbs and bid him a warm farwell in a concert featuring Verdi’s Overture to “La forza del destino”, student soloist Caleb Brumfield in Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major, student soloist Alia Uffenorde in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in D minor, and William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue. TYSA alumni will also honor Dr. Cobbs as they join the orchestra for an encore performance of Holst’s Jupiter.
Dr. Cobbs’ lifelong friends and colleagues, Carrie Rehkopf and John Michel, will perform Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. The Concerto was composed in the summer of 1887, and it was Brahms’ final composition for orchestra. He composed the work for his friends, cellist Robert Hausmann and violinist Joseph Joachim, and conducted the first few performances with his friends as the soloists.
Since 1990, Carrie Rehkopf Michel has been the violin professor at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. Living in a rural area, her particular interests in building new audiences and cultivating artistry in players of all levels have led her to incorporate elements of acting, choreography and narrative into her violin work. Called a ‘first-class musician’ by Sir Georg Solti, she toured North America for 24 years as first violinist of the Kairos Quartet. Founder and Director of both the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute and the Kairos Chamber Music Lyceum, Ms. Rehkopf has also performed at the Tanglewood, Banff, Norfolk festivals, the Interharmony Festival in Italy, Music & More Summerfest in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the Halekalani Series on Maui, and at the National Recital Hall in Taiwan.
John Michel, in his thirty-fourth year as cello professor at Central Washington University, enjoys his career as a soloist, collaborative musician and teacher. Mr. Michel is a founding member of the ensemble Kairos (formerly the Kairos Quartet) which holds an endowed professorship as the CWU resident ensemble. During summers, Mr. Michel has performed and taught at the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy, Music & More SummerFest in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Banff International Orchestra Festival, Kairos Chamber Lyceum, Marrowstone Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, Icicle Creek, Chautauqua Festival and the Evergreen Festival. On occasion, Mr. Michel subs with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Michel founded the Internet Cello Society, a cyber-community of 20,000 cellists. He served on the New Directions Cello Association board and hosts the Central Cello Celebration. In 1996, the American String Teacher Association, Washington chapter, named him Outstanding College String Teacher.
Caleb Brumfield is a senior at Enumclaw High School. He has been in TYSA for five years and is currently principal violist. Caleb will be attending Washington State University next fall where he plans to study music performance. His long-term goal is to become a medical doctor.
Alia Uffenorde is a senior at Tahoma High School. She has been in TYSA for six years and is currently Associate Concertmaster in the Tacoma Youth Symphony. Alia plans to attend the Peabody Institute of Music at Johns Hopkins University where she will major in violin performance.
Tickets are on sale now for the Saturday, May 18, 2024 (7 pm) at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma. To purchase tickets go to www.tysamusic.org.
