Tacoma, WA: On Saturday, March 1, the Tacoma Youth Symphony will present “The Ladies Who Pack a Punch!” For centuries, music composed by women composers has been significantly less visible than music composed by men. Now, thankfully, the incredible works of these underrepresented composers are coming to light. Don’t miss an amazing concert that features works by women composers!
One of the works on the concert is “Montgomery Variations (1964) by African American composer, Margaret Bonds. Bonds was raised primarily by her mother, a church musician, and showed great promise as a pianist at an early age. She entered Northwestern University at the age of 16, where she earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music. One of her early teachers for both piano and composition was another influential woman composer, Florence Price. In 1932, she became the first African American soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony. The Montgomery Variations is a set of 7 variations on the spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.” In the program for the work, Bonds explained that it was based on the Montgomery Bus Boycotts and the decision by African Americans in the south to no longer accept the Jim Crow laws. She dedicated the piece to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sixteen-year-old student soloist, Yukino Sokolik, will join the Tacoma Youth Symphony for a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. Ms. Sokolik is a sophomore at North Thurston High School. Currently a member of the Tacoma Youth Symphony, Yukino has been a member of TYSA for seven years. She will be performing one of Saint-Saëns’ best known works which he composed for a young Pablo Sarasate. Composed in 1863, Sarasate performed the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso throughout Europe and the United States.
The Tacoma Youth Symphony Association will also be honoring the legacy of beloved TYSA conductor, Mr. Dale Johnson. Mr. Johnson started as the conductor of the Tacoma Junior Symphony (later Debut Orchestra) in 1979 and also conducted the Tacoma Young Artists Orchestra starting in 1984. He was instrumental in developing TYSA’s summer music camp, the Evergreen Music Festival, and started the String Orchestra Festival, which now draws over 1,000 middle, junior high, and high school string players during the two day festival. Mr. Johnson served as interim Music Director in the mid-90’s and conducted the Tacoma Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 2000 and 2005, and at the National Cathedral in 2008. He will return to guest conduct the Tacoma Youth Symphony, as well as TYSA alumni, in a performance of the English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams, in celebration of his more than forty year career with TYSA.
Tickets are on sale now! To purchase tickets go to www.tysamusic.org.
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.
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