Quincy Symphony to feature Young Musicians

Under the direction of Music Director Bruce Briney, three of the area’s most talented young high school musicians will be the featured soloists for the Quincy Symphony Orchestra’s 53rd Young Artists Concert on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008 at 3:00 in the QJHS Morrison Theater.  The concert will feature the winners of the annual Young Artists Competition:  Clarissa Hallmark, saxophone, Amanda Saul, soprano, and Alice Ye, piano.

Saxophonist Clarissa Hallmark is a senior at Quincy High School.  She has been studying saxophone since age 10.  She studies under her father who is a saxophone teacher.  Before moving to Quincy in 2007, Clarissa attended Knightdale High School in Knightdale, NC, where she received The Most Outstanding Musician Award and The Music Achievement Award in her junior year. She is the daughter of Lynette and Roger Hallmark of Quincy. 

Soprano Amanda Saul is a junior at Quincy High School.  She studies voice with Amy Stollberg.  She is involved in many music and theater activities at QHS, including concert band and orchestra as an oboist, jazz band as a pianist, and concert choir, madrigals, and show choir.  She has performed with the Quincy Community Theatre and is an alum of the Quincy Area Youth Chorus.  Amanda is the daughter of Michael and Randi Saul of Quincy.  She is the 4th vocal soloist ever to be chosen in the 53 year history of the Young Artists competition.

Pianist Alice Ye, a sophomore at Macomb High School, is the daughter of Drs. Zhong Ye and Sherry Li.  She started studying piano at the age of five. Currently she studies with Mrs. Hyung Ja Kim.  She plays flute in the Macomb HS Wind Symphony, and participates in Art Club, Ecology Club, Speech Team, Interact, tennis team, Scholastic Bowl, Math Team, and WYSE.  She has won first prize in Art Olympiad.
The QSO will host the Quincy Area Youth Orchestra as they share a side-by-side performance of Sibelius’s Finlandia under the direction of QAYO Conductor Christine Beason.  Briney will then lead the young soloists in their performances.  Miss Hallmark will perform Glazunov’s Concerto for Saxophone and String Orchestra.  Miss Saul will perform “Laudamus te” from Mozart’s Mass in C Minor.  The first half of the program will conclude with Miss Ye’s performance the 1st movement of Kabalevsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

 Following the intermission, the Quincy Symphony Orchestra will perform Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major.  First performed in 1903, the second symphony is the most popular of Sibelius’s symphonies. It is skillfully orchestrated with heroic and optimistic first and final movements…exactly what the Finnish public needed in 1903, during a period of Russian oppression. The first public performance, which was held in Stockholm, established Sibelius's fame as a national hero.

Concert tickets will be available at the door or may be purchased in advance from the Symphony Office at 428 Maine, or from Wild Birds Unlimited, 3502 Broadway Rd.  The cost is $15 for adults and $12 for seniors.  Children under 19 are admitted free to all QSO concerts, and are encouraged to attend.  The program is partially supported by The Knapheide Manufacturing Company, Encore! Quincy Symphony Volunteer Council and by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.  Readers and concert-goers are encouraged to purchase QSOA Raffle tickets, which support annual in-school symphony concerts for over 3000 3rd-6th graders.  More information on the 60th Anniversary Season and each of the LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE concerts may be found at www.qsoa.org.  Call 217-222-2856 for a brochure or additional information.