The Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra and Junior Strings Ensemble and several smaller music groups will perform in concert 7 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 27, in Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University.
Four members of the Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra who have formed a string quartet will open the concert with selections by Tchaikovsky and Anderson.
The Junior Strings ensemble, directed by Sharon M. Miller, will play several classical selections by Handel and Vivaldi as well as a fiddle tune. This intermediate-level group has 13 members from Shenandoah, Rockingham, Shenandoah and Augusta counties.
The concert will continue with small groups of Youth Orchestra members. A wind quintet will play one number and a brass sextet will perform two pieces.
The 46-member Youth Orchestra, conducted by Maria Lorcas, will perform the “Concerto for Oboe in C major” by Haydn featuring Perry Maddox, the “Concerto for Cello No. 1” by Saint-Saens featuring Joseph Roth, the Introduction and Finale from “Romeo and Juliet” by Tchaikovsky and “Slavonic Dances Nos. 4 and 8” by Dvorak. Students are from Rockingham, Augusta, Shenandoah, Page and Alleghany counties as well as West Virginia.
The featured soloists are Perry Maddox, oboe, and Joseph Roth, cello. Perry is the son of Charles and Martha Maddox. A senior at Broadway High School, he is in the Wind Symphony, Honors Choir, and Jazz Ensemble, and has participated in regional and state ensembles, recently as tenor sax in the all-VA Jazz Ensemble and principal oboe in the all-VA Orchestra. He has taken piano lessons for 11 years and oboe lessons for four-and-a-half years. In addition, he has participated in the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir for five years.
Currently, Perry studies oboe with Rhonda Stees and piano with Dr. Pat Brady. After high school, he plans to double major in music and ecology.
Joseph Roth is the son of Ken and Terri Roth. A senior at Harrisonburg High School, Joseph has been active in sports (cross country, track and tennis) and school clubs (French Club president, Gay Straight Alliance
Club). Joseph was chosen by audition for the South Central Regional Orchestra and has performed in musicals at Broadway High School as well as at Harrisonburg High school. He has taken piano lessons for eight years and cello for six years in the Shenandoah Valley Preparatory Music Program at EMU.
Joseph currently studies cello with Lisa Wright and piano with John Fast. Joseph has been active in the youth group at Community Mennonite Church and participated in a service project in Harlan, KY. After graduation,
Joseph plans to study psychology and then attend medical school.
The Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra and Junior Strings ensemble are part of Eastern Mennonite University’s Shenandoah Valley Preparatory Music Program.
A five-dollar donation is requested at the door to assist in the operation of these groups.