Fidelity Investments® and the Boston Pops Announce Winners of the 2010 Fidelity Futurestage Music Competition

By -

Boston Public School Students to Perform with the Boston Pops on May 26 at Symphony Hall

Fidelity Investments® and the Boston Pops today announced the winners of the second annual Fidelity FutureStage 2010 Music Competition, a city-wide competition for Boston and Cambridge Public High School student musicians to perform at the Boston Pops concert at Symphony Hall on Wednesday, May 26 at 8:00 pm. The competition is part of Fidelity FutureStage, a national arts education initiative created by Fidelity Investments in 2006 to support middle and high school students in public schools and communities.

The four winning musical acts, including soloists and small ensembles, represent musical styles that range from jazz to bluegrass to international. In anticipation of their big night on the Symphony Hall stage, the student musicians will work directly with professional coaches including Keith Lockhart and musicians of the Boston Pops, who will help them prepare for their performances on May 26.

Winners of the 2010 Fidelity FutureStage Music Competition:
    LaWanda Hector (Dorchester), an 18 year-old senior vocalist from Roland Hayes School of Music; T. Davis Dillon of Roland Hayes School of Music, mentor.
    Muhan Zhang (Boston), a 17 year-old senior from Boston Latin School playing the erhu (two stringed bowed instrument); Chi-Sun Chan of Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association, mentor.
    Copley Place from Boston Latin School, featuring:
        Ian Haines (Jamaica Plain), a 15 year-old sophomore banjoist
        Christopher Nguyen (Roslindale), a 18 year-old senior playing the cello
        Annie Osborn (Charlestown), a 18 year-old senior violinist
        Sherry Wu (West Roxbury), a 17 year-old senior violinist
        Paul Pitts of Boston Latin School, mentor
    Charlie Brown Blues Band from Boston Arts Academy, featuring:
        Gregory Groover Jr. (Roxbury), a 16 year-old junior saxophonist
        Gustavo Hernandez (Roslindale), a 18 year-old senior percussionist
        Nicolas Perez (Boston), a 17 year-old junior pianist
        Max Ridley (Boston), a 16 year-old junior playing the double bass
        Matt Clauhs of Boston Arts Academy, mentor

“It's an absolute delight to work with these talented young performers from our public schools and to showcase them at one of this season's Boston Pops concerts,” said Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart. “I imagine that nearly every musician who performs on the Symphony Hall stage remembers the great joy and satisfaction that came from exploring music in their student days. Whether these students go on to professional music careers or become regular concert goers, the opportunities provided by Fidelity FutureStage are sure to inspire a life-long love of music.”

Three of the student musicians who will perform this year are repeat winners of the competition, though as part of new ensembles. Gustavo Hernandez, a senior percussionist from Boston Arts Academy, made his Boston Pops debut last spring as part of the jazz ensemble “The Underground Trio.” He cites his 2009 performance onstage with the Boston Pops as his biggest accomplishment to date and is thrilled to return to the Symphony Hall stage. “This experience has taught me that I can achieve anything,” said Hernandez.

That sentiment matches with Fidelity’s goals for the FutureStage program. “Fidelity created the FutureStage program to provide more opportunities for students to participate in the arts and encourage them to explore and share their talents,” said Jennifer K. Brown, executive vice president at Fidelity. “The winners of the 2010 Fidelity FutureStage Music Competition represent some of the great talent in our local classrooms, and we look forward to their performances at Symphony Hall on May 26.”

The ten student musicians who make up the musical acts that will perform with the Boston Pops are part of the FutureStage Class of 2010, joining winning student musicians of Fidelity FutureStage Music Competitions also held this spring in Chicago and Houston. The competition winners in those two cities are now preparing for concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, respectively. Fidelity FutureStage will host a similar competition in Los Angeles, this fall, where students will compete for the opportunity to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In the meantime, students from one of Fidelity FutureStage schools in Los Angeles, Renaissance Arts Academy, will perform at opening night of the Hollywood Bowl, an annual event that celebrates music education.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more