Concert to feature Young Artist winners

Winners of the 2007 Young Artists’ competition will be featured in concert with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Schuler Auditorium on the North Idaho College campus.

The program will also feature flutist Ann Yasinitsky playing the Flute Concerto composed by her husband, Greg Yasinitsky. The Yasinistskys, of Pullman, are members of the Washington State University faculty. David Demand, music director will conduct a varied program featuring contemporary and classical works.

Also on the evening’s program will be American composer Joan Tower’s “Made in America.” First performed in 2004, the selection was commissioned by the American Symphony League with a focus on composition for the small orchestra. The Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra has been selected as the first Idaho orchestra to perform the work.

The Young Artist’s Competition is in its fifth year and, according to Demand, is an outstanding opportunity for young instrumentalists and vocalists to showcase their talents and gain experience. Sixty-two entrants entered the preliminary round of judging.

“We had applicants from all over the country – Utah, Nevada, Oregon Ohio, New York – even Canada,” Demand said.

Twenty-one performers were selected at a competition in January for first and second place and honorable mention in the six divisions: college strings and piano, college winds and brass, high school instrumentals, high school vocals, college vocals and professional vocals.

“In the voice division we have divided the contestants into two additional age groups, those 18 to 25 and those 25 to 32, rather than just college,” Demand said. “We do this because the voices of singers do not mature before the age of 25.”

The winners who will perform with the orchestra are: Tong Miranda Wu, piano, who will play the first movement from Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. Her home is China.

Kliment Krylovskiy, clarinetist, will perform von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto in F Minor. Kliment is a resident of New York City.

Leah Nelson, Boise, high school instrumentalist division winner, will play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

Winner in the high school vocalist division, lyric soprano Ali King will sing George Bizet’s “Ouvre Ton Coeur,” and “Hours Creep on Apace” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.”

Soprano Susanna Eiland, winner of the college division, will sing the aria “Durch Zarlichkeit” from Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio,” and the “Doll Song” from Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman.”

Because of a previous commitment, soprano Kimberly Monzon, who placed first in the professional division, will not make her appearance with the symphony until the orchestra’s May 5 season finale. Monzon lives in Spokane.

In addition to the opportunity to perform with a symphony orchestra, the winners each receive $500. Opera Plus makes the awards to the vocalists.

According to Demand this program, billed as the Regional Talent Extravaganza, has proved to be very popular, and tickets go fast.