Young Artists Spotlight

Dana Peck, home-schooled in Bakersfield, began studying harp at age 11.  For two years she has been the principal (and only) harpist with the Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra, which tours England and Scotland beginning March 26.  For the past three years, Dana has studied in the Fine Arts Summer Academy, which gave her the opportunity to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. She has played under conductors Kyunghun Kim and Jung Ho Park. And studying with a teacher in Southern California, Dana was able to strum the strings of Harpo Marx’s harp!

With members seemingly beyond their years in life experience, the Bakersfield Youth Symphony String Quartet graced the FM89 studios with individual stories to tell, in addition to the musicians’ performances of Bach, Haydn, Tchaikovsky and more.

Violinist Henry Song, a Stockdale H.S. senior and in his second visit to Young Artist Spotlight, came ready to tell us of his football prowess and his hopes for the future on a college gridiron. Hearing his violin mastery, one hopes he insures his fingers!

It was a full studio this time for Young Artists Spotlight, in the second of three Youth Orchestras of Fresno programs, which are being spread across the total 13 Wednesdays this season. So to the Bonner Studio came Emily, Lynette, Sebastian, McKenna, Amanda, and Peyton.

The rest of the young musicians looked on as 11-year-old violinist Emily Okayasu, who attends St. Anthony’s school, performed for her third year on Young Artists Spotlight.  It is not an exaggeration to say that jaws dropped and eyes lit up. And Emily’s accompanist was Matthew Dean.

This week on Young Artists Spotlight we hear performances from two talented musicians from Bakersfield's Stockdale High - junior Alice Lee and sophomore Liang (Vicky) Zhao. Both are members of the Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra and the each play multiple instruments.

Alice plays piano, flute and piccolo but her emphasis is violin, which she has been playing for six years. She even has two students of her own now. And Alice is Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra soloist for the 2014-15 season. She plans to major in music, all the way to a PhD professorship.

We begin the 2015 season of Young Artists Spotlight with a performance from a number of talented young musicians, including a flute quartet, two harpists and a violinist. 

Youth Orchestras of Fresno Flute Quartet:
Mai Schweizer; Lillian O'Day, Beth Wilson and Jamie Hellwig

Harp soloists:
Aria Delgado
Carter Williams

Violin soloist:
Benjamin Pegram

This week on Young Artists Spotlight, we hear performances from two of the Fresno Musical Club's 2014 scholarship winners. Violinist William Chen is the 1st place winner of the 2014 Hildred Minich Scholarship for young string players.  

William attends University High School, has served for three years as concert master for the Youth Orchestra of Fresno, and studies privately  with Thi Nguyen.   He performs selections from Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D, and is accompanied by pianist Matthew Dean.

This week on Young Artists Spotlight, we continue our series of soloists from the Youth Orchestras of Fresno. This week we hear performances by three exceptionally talented musicians from YOOF:

Joanne Chen, violin performs Max Bruch's Concerto in G minor, first and second movements

Henry Woolf, flute performs Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto Pastoral, first mvt

Aaron Grisez, marimba performs Paul Lansky's Hop(3)

This week on Young Artists Spotlight we bring you the sounds of a trio of talented performers from Fresno Pacific University and hear a trio of flute, violin and cello. The group features Summer Collison flute; Maxton Vieira, violin and Allison Ens, cello. All three are students of FPU professor Dieter Wulforhost. 

Trio No. 2 in G major, op. 19, no. 2    by François Devienne       (1759-1803) 

Allegro,  Rondo. Allegretto

Serenade in D Major, op. 25 (1802)  by  Ludwig van Beethoven  (1770-1827)

Entrata. Allegro

  This week on FM89's Young Artists Spotlight we hear the President's Quintet of California State University Fresno. This scholarship woodwind ensemble is funded through the office of the university's President Joseph Castro and performs at many official campus events. The student members also receive additional support from the Fresno State Associated Students Inc. for tours, supplies and commissions. The group was founded in 1978, and is directed by Fresno State flute professor Dr. Teresa Beaman. In previous years, the ensemble has toured Europe, Asia and California.

This week on Young Artists Spotlight, we hear the music of the Fresno City College Guitar Quartet, featuring students from the FCC Advanced Guitar class. The ensemble is directed by Dr. Kevin Cooper and performs music by Albeniz, Penella, Praetorius and others. 

Fresno City College Guitar Quartet:
Andrew Gomez-Ramirez
Roger Hallaway
Brandon Mendez
Micah Byers
Dr. Kevin Cooper, director

The 23-year-old pianist Michael Delfin is no stranger to FM89 listeners. He has twice before performed on Young Artists Spotlight, and this week he returns to our studio to share his music with local listeners. Now a resident of Baltimore, Michael is on the faculty of the Baltimore School of Music. He also is a double major at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, studying both music (at the Peabody Conservatory) and history. 

This week on Young Artists Spotlight, we continue our series of performances from members of the Youth Orchestras of Fresno. This time, we feature five young string musicians from ages nine through eleven. Hear these talented pre-teens: Emilea Okayasu, Benjamin Pegram, and Hope Yuan, violin, and Olivia Lin and Luke Zhao, cello.

This week on Young Artists Spotlight, we feature three ensembles from the Youth Orchestras of Fresno (YOOF), including five trombones, three flutes, a cello and violin. FM89's George Mason hosts this special program featuring some of the Central Valley's finest young musicians.

YOOF Trombone Choir:

Featuring Madeleine Guekguezian, Kabir Khera, Michael Neufeld, Larry Shin, and Ethan Santos performing  "Song for Japan" by Steven Verhelst

YOOF Flute Trio:

The eight-member honor group from the Lindsay High School Guitars paid a return visit to Young Artists Spotlight this year. The performance included solos from graduating seniors Salvador Madrigal and Joseph Ochoa, not to mention a surprise cello solo from Kathryne Wills, the youngest member of the Tulare County Symphony and the daughter of Lindsay High School teacher Nancy Wills, who founded the Lindsay Guitars in 1999 and leads the group to this day. 

This week on FM89's Young Artists Spotlight, we feature multi-instrumentalist Alice Lee. A student at Bakersfield's Stockdale High School, Alice is  both a pianist and a violinist. She is also a member of the Stockdale band and orchestra, under the director Mr. John Biller.

Alice says she would like to pursue her musical career after high school.

"I would like to major in music. I want to get a doctor's in music education and become a professor. Also, I want to teach kids and be in a symphony orchestra," says Alice. 

Sisters Hannah and Megan Tran returned to Valley Public Radio for another performance on Young Artists Spotlight. The two Bakersfield students brought their Chinese zithers with them for an in-studio concert of traditional music and a clever arrangement of Michael Jackson's "Beat It."

The 2014 season of Young Artists Spotlight begins with a performance by four talented teens from Bakersfield, Henry Song, Liang (Vicky) Zhao, Sharon Hong and Sebastian Lee. Together they are the Bakersfield Youth Symphony String Quartet. They performed the following:

Bach: 1st movement from the Third Brandenburg Concerto
Mozart: Rondo
Folk song medley: Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) and Arkansas Traveller (arranged by George Frederick McKay)  
Mozart: 1st movement from Eine kleine nachtmusik

We bring the 2013 season of Young Artists Spotlight to a close this week with a performance by the winners of the Fresno Musical Club's Young Singer Awards. Baritone Constantine Pappas and soprano Maelyn De Fede join us to perform live in-studio on this special edition of Young Artists Spotlight.

This week on FM89's Young Artists Spotlight, we feature performances by local harp students Erin Kim and Madeline Olson. 

This week on Young Artists Spotlight we feature three different ensembles drawn from members of the Youth Orchestras of Fresno. Violinist Erin Scofield opens the program with a performance of Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano, accompanied by Hatem Nadim, piano. Following that, we hear a performance of Cambini's Wind Quintet No.2 in D minor by the Gigabyte Woodwind Quintet, featuring Andrew Young - horn, Henry Wolf - flute, Noelle Tutunjian- clarinet, Alana Stevenson - oboe, and Issac Ebury - bassoon.