Concerto winners to play with orchestra

The Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra will continue its 2011-2012 concert season with a program featuring performances by the winners of the orchestra’s innaugural annual Concerto Competition at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Kahilu Theatre 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.” 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. To help her gain the experience she needs to accomplish that goal, Kim’s current teacher, Sheryl Shohet of Honolulu, helped her refine the piece she’d learned for her previous competition, and encouraged her to enter the Kamuela Philharmonic’s contest in November. With Kim’s nearly flawless performance of Haydn’s popular work, 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 the Honokaa High 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, who was a Belgian composer, violinist, violin teacher, and conductor. This concerto, which has only one movement, was written in 1868, and is the romantic era composer’s best known work. 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. Shostakovich, widely considered the most important Russian composer of the 20th century and the last great symphonist, wrote the concerto for his friend, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Lucas, who is a 17-year-old student at Iolani School on Oahu, 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, who he has been studying with for six years, to help him learn it. Once Lucas had memorized and perfected the first movement, he began to search for an opportunity to perform it, and was excited to learn about the Kamuela Philharmonic concerto competition. 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.

The Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra is also looking forward to this concert, both as a chance to share the talents of these amazing young performers with the local community, and to perform Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 1.” As a young piano virtuoso, Brahms was a protégé of Franz Liszt and Robert and Clara Schumann in the 1850s, and only achieved musical recognition in the late 1860s after a move to Vienna. He took at least 14 years to write this symphony, which was premiered in 1876. Brahms greatly admired Beethoven, and certain thematic similarities led to his first symphony sometimes being referred to as “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Often called the last of the great Classicists, Brahms was ridiculed by some of his contemporaries as a conservative clinging to the musical past, but modern audiences consider his stylish music an essential part of the concert repertoire.

The mission of the Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra Society is to present live, high-quality orchestral music to Big Island audiences, and to further the musical education of young people.