OYO Winter Concert 2017
The four orchestras that comprise Oakland Youth Orchestras (OYO) will be performing works by master composers Beethoven, Haydn, Bach, Tchaikovsky, as well as others at the February 2nd, 2017 Winter Concert. OYO is proud to feature two award winning soloists James Holk III and Soyoung Cho at this event.
Holk and Cho won first place in OYO’s 2016 Solo and Concerto Competitions. Zeljko Milicevic, director of the Symphony Orchestra, commented on this event, “I am so grateful that OYO has worked so hard to grow and preserve the annual solo and concerto competition for its members. Nineteen years ago the competition began as a result of a grant from the Chrysler Foundation. Implementing such an opportunity was one thing; but sustaining it for 19 years is a whole other matter. Aside from the performance and monetary awards, the experience the contestants receive performing their prepared works for a panel of three high caliber judges is really a rare event.”
Featured soloist, James Holk III of Macomb, will perform the Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra by Ney Rosauro I. Saudação (Greetings) with the Philharmonia Orchestra. He is currently majoring in percussion performance at Oakland University under the instruction of Prof. Dan Maslanka and Prof. Mark Stone. He plays the marimba along with the vibraphone, xylophone, timpani, and snare drum. James’ music resume includes: Michigan Youth Arts Festival semi-finalist, multiple high school MSBOA Solo and Ensembles, musical productions for L’Anse Creuse High School North, LCHSN Percussion Ensemble, Oakland University Honors Band, Principal Percussionist with OYO’s Philharmonia Orchestra and a concerto finalist for the North Oakland Concert Band. James is currently interested in music composition, crafting various genres of music. His most recent project was composing a piece for a horror film that has been submitted to festivals around the globe.
Featured soloist, Soyoung Cho, 15, of Rochester is a sophomore at Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She will perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, 3rd Mvmt. with the Symphony Orchestra. She has been playing violin for 9 years under the tutelage of Ms. Haewon Oh. She also studied with Ms.Yoonshin Song, Mr. Jordan Broder, and Ms. Sanghee Shim. Soyoung’s resume includes such accolades as: winner of the music scholarship competition and recipient of the Slotkin Music Scholarship at Cranbrook Schools, 1st place winner in the 2016 Toledo Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, 1st place winner of the Teresa Schuster Memorial Award in the Oakland Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, a Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival Artist Merit Scholarship Award and the Mester BRAVO Music scholarship. Soyoung is the associate concertmaster for OYO’s Symphony Orchestra as well as her school orchestra, and performs with the Cranbrook String Quartet. In her free time, she volunteers at the Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, is a writer for the school newspaper and is part of the Cranbrook Chamber Music Club, Speech and Forensics team, and Gold Key board.
Milicevic, a sought after clinician and adjudicator, dedcribed working with Soyoung Cho, “It has been great fun working with and accompanying Soyoung for the February concert! Her bubbly personality really comes through her performance in her interpretation of the finale of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.”
Oakland Youth Orchestras Winter Concert is February 2nd, 2017. The concert will be held at the Oxford Fine Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. Oxford Fine Arts Center is located at Oxford High School, 745 N. Oxford Road, Oxford, MI 48371.
Tickets will be available at the door: Adults–$10, children and students–$5, and ticket quartets–$30 (includes four tickets).