For more information, please contact Kaori Mitani 808-896-2153, contact@kamuelaphil.com.
SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY
The Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra will continue its 2011-2012 concert season with a program featuring performances by winners of the orchestra’s first Concerto Competition on Jan. 15 at the Kahilu Theater in Waimea.
The three soloists will play works by Joseph Haydn, J. B. Accolay and Dmitri Shostakovich, with orchestral accompaniment. Also included on the program will be Johannes Brahms’ masterwork, Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. The concert will begin at 4 p.m., and admission is free. Space is limited, so audience members are advised to arrive by 3:15 pm.
Ten-year-old violinist Minseon Kim will be performing the first movement of Haydn’s Concerto No. 2 in G major. Kim, whose father is a Korean Air Force commander and fighter pilot on a two-year assignment in Hawaii as a military liaison, attends school at Hickam Elementary. Although she has only been studying the violin for three years, Kim placed well in a Korean national competition before her family’s move to Hawaii a year ago, and has ambitions of becoming a professional violinist. Kim’s current teacher, Sheryl Shohet of Honolulu, helped her refine the piece she’d played previously. With Kim’s nearly flawless performance of Haydn’s popular work, by no means the easiest piece written by the “father of the symphony,” there was no question she deserved the prize for her age group (12 years and under) awarded by the contest judges.
Violinist Elizabeth Sekona is a 15-year-old student at Honokaa High and Intermediate School, and a member of the school’s prize-winning jazz ensemble. She will be playing Concerto No. 1 in A minor by Jean-Baptiste Accolay. Sekona has been studying violin and piano with Ursula Vietze of Kona for eight years, and currently plays in the second violin section of the Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra. She decided to enter the competition as a way of motivating herself to improve her skills as a violinist, and is looking forward to the new experience of performing as a soloist with the orchestra. According to Sekona, the expressiveness of the Accolay piece, which she much prefers to the Bach violin concerto she first considered playing, helped make the process of working up her performance to a competitive level in only a few months very enjoyable. Her obvious love of the piece and beautiful tone are several factors that made her a stand out in her age group (13-15 years) at the contest, despite some stiff competition.
Daniel Lucas will perform the Dmitri Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major, composed in 1959. Lucas, a 17-year-old student at Iolani School, first heard this concerto when attending a music competition in Honolulu to hear a friend perform. He was so taken with the piece, which is considered among the more difficult works for cello, that he sought out the music and persuaded his teacher, Nancy Masaki of Honolulu, to help him learn it. Once Lucas had memorized and perfected the first movement, he began to search for an opportunity to perform it. His great technique and energetic performance impressed the judges, allowing him to prevail in his age group (16-18 years). Lucas is even more excited that his win will now allow him the opportunity to perform his solo with an orchestra.
For more information, please contact Kaori Mitani 808-896-2153, contact@kamuelaphil.com.