The second Ukiah Youth Concert has built a solid foundation, bringing together a variety of performers and musical styles for a donation-based concert featuring an incredible lineup of young musicians and seasoned performers. The 2-hour concert takes place on May 19th at the Mendocino College Center Theatre. Donations will benefit music education in programs offered by the participating educational institutions.
A combination of local and international young musicians from the Instilling Goodness & Developing Virtue School, Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Ukiah High School and other young artists will perform with world-class musicians Alex de Grassi, Spencer Brewer, Paul Yarbrough, Wenbo Yin and special guests.
Expect to hear a diverse selection of music played on an equally diverse group of instruments. "There will be a variety of performances including instrumental music, solos, ensembles, dance and duets played in genres from Eastern to Western music, choir, classical, jazz and pop. There will truly be something for everyone," says concert organizer Sophie Wu.
Brilliant, beloved and esteemed piano instructor Elizabeth MacDougall, who teaches piano ensemble at the Developing Virtue School will showcase some of her students at the concert.
"I think the first time I taught here at the City of 10,000 Buddhas might have been in the 1990's," she recalls. "It's really fun to see the students growling up. The performances have really grown as well. They have become very consistent, and it's wonderful to have Mendocino College offer their their professional stage to a multi-generational group of very talented musicians performing together," she continues. Her students will perform an 8–hands piano piece and MacDougall will perform with Yarbrough, Yin and Brewer.
"Haley Tran and Cherry Ngo were students in my first class," Wu continues. "This concert is special because we started as a team and together we have all contributed to this really great project. It's a remarkable moment."
Cherry Ngo is a senior at Developing Virtue School. She plays the saxophone. This will be her fifth recital.
"I remember our first recital. It was a small student gathering," Ngo recalls. "It's a big honor to be playing at the Center Theater. It pushes me to work harder, and it's amazing to work with my fellow students and all the different professional musicians," she continues, noting she has been studying with saxophonist Wenbo Yin.
"My parents picked out the piano for me and I started playing when I was about 6. I wasn't that great, and I dropped piano after about 2 years of asking my parents," she smiles. "Saxophone was an unusual choice of an instrument for a girl in the Vietnamese culture. You don't see girls playing what is considered a masculine instrument," says Ngo. She'd been exposed to players like Kenny G through her father, and now plays transcribed music from the romantic to post-modern periods. "I really want to continue studying sax and dig deeper into jazz. There's a lot of theory that goes behind jazz music." She will be attending Rutgers University and plans to major in Philosophy.
"What Cherry isn't saying is that she won an international saxophone competion in March and performed in Carnegie Hall. It's the same competition that Wenbo won when he was younger," Wu smiles.
Senior Hailey Tran has been at Developing Virtue School for five years.
"I thought our first recital was interesting. It was kind of a small class out of our music appreciation class and was going to count for part of our midterm grade. I thought I had to choose a musical instrument to play. I had a brief background in clarinet and Chinese zither, but I was rusty and didn't know what I was going to do. I asked if I could do dance instead. I've continued performing dance in all the recital performances," says Tran.
"Hailey is absolutely amazing. She self-choreographs her dances and stuns audiences every time she dances. Not a lot of people can do what she does," says Wu. "I do both Chinese and modern dance. At first I was only exposed to slow, modern types of music that correlated more with jazz dance. Since I came here, I've been exposed to Chinese Dance. We have a Chinese dance club and I became president of the club during my junior year." Tran will be attending either Emerson College or the University of Rochester. "If I go to Emerson, I'm going to major in the Business of Creative Enterprises, but if I go to Rochester, I'm interested in social sciences and will continue with the arts."
Fingerstyle guitar legend Alex de Grassi performed at last year's concert and has also been teaching at the City, at Dharma Realm University and at Mendocino College.
"It's great there are more opportunities for young people to perform. And it's a really valuable experience for young people to perform with older professionals. Being on the stage brings the best out of the art and will build confidence wherever these young people decide to go. When I was at UC Berkeley. I was hesitant to get a degree in music, so I majored in Economic Geography. But while I was there, I got to make some recordings. You never know what's gloing to happen next," he smiles.
"I encourage high school students to come to the guitar class at Mendocino College. Any opportunity for young pelple to perform and rehearse is really important. I also want to stress how encouraged I am by all the energy and effort Sophie is putting into the arts," de Grassi notes.
Audrey McCombs is the instrumental music instructor at Ukiah High School.
"The group of students representing Ukiah High School at the Youth Concert will be our Jazz Ensemble, which is a big band style group with piano, bass, drums, saxophones, trombones, and trumpets. We are excited to share two tunes at the concert, one being a fun, funky tune called "Cold Duck Time" which will get some toes tapping. It'll feature solos from alto saxophonist Kobi Hasunuma, trombonist William Nacca, and bari sax player Revyn Marmon. We have a special treat for our second tune, which will feature our vocalist Charlie Simms singing "Feeling Good" which was made famous by Nina Simone. These students have been preparing this music for a few months now for our concert on Friday, May 17th, 7pm at Ukiah High School, and are excited to share even more at the Youth Concert," she notes.
"Music education is so important in the lives of your students; it's one of the only activities that uses both sides of your brain, teaches students that they need to know their own part in order to be successful in collaboration with others, engages physical skills, intellectual skills, and emotional awareness. We are lucky to have such wonderful opportunities in our schools; most countries in the world do not have these opportunities. Our students have been improving year after year. We have 6 students make it into the Northern California Honor Band this year, and they got to work with Dr Denis Llinas from the University of Oregon, and for the first time in over 20 years, we had a student, Miles Cross, make it into one of the All State Bands! My students have had to opportunities to work with college professors, professional musicians, tour colleges, attend workshops and more because of their involvement in music," McCombs continues.
Violist Paul Yarbrough's retirement from the Alexander String Quartet was a monumental shift for a group that has traveled the world and performed some of the most important music ever created. But his retirement is Mendocino County's gain, and Yarbrough has jumped into the local music scene with vigor, curiosity and grace. It is almost impossible to imagine the thrill that these young performers must have playing side by side with one of the most significant contributors to classical music in our generation.
"I want to thank Sophie for inviting me to take part in this lovely event. I'm especially pleased to get to play with younger musicians. This reminds us that music is an ongoing cultural thing that we do," he smiles.
Once again, pianist Spencer Brewer returns to perform one of his pieces with Yarbrough and two students. "I'm very honored to play with these young people at this concert," says Brewer. "I'm particularly honored that one of the pieces we're doing with these young string players is one I wrote many years ago for Tyler Lincoln and the Coast Symphony."
Once again, Ukiah will be graced by the deep talent and devoted prowess of saxophonist Wenbo Yin, who is joining his students and colleagues to perform several pieces of music at the concert.
"I'm so honored to play with these wonderful musicians. The spirit of youth is always curious. This is such a wonderful opportunity to share music with everybody," says Yin.
Leo Wang is a sophomore who will be playing cello with Yin, Yarbrough and Brewer.
"I've been playing the cello for about three years, but played piano for about 7, so it was a good base for cello. I plan to go into medicine and keep cello as a side hobby. I know a few doctors in the Ukiah Symphony who play music as a side hobby, so I hope to do that as well. When I study, I listen to classical or lo-fi beats, but when I'm playing basketball, I listen to 21st century music like Ed Sheeran and the Chainsmokers," he smiles.
Catherine Wang is a senior and will also be performing with Yin, Yarbrough and Brewer.
"I've being playing violin for 8 or 9 years and been playing piano for 11 years. I play first violin in the Ukiah Symphony and have been doing that for about 4 years. In the future, I'm also pre-med. I want to major in biology but I might minor in music. I really want to major in music and keep up with music as one of my hobbies," she notes.
The concert begins at 3 p.m. Reserve tickets at the Mendocino Book Company. For more information email Sophie Wu at sophie.wu@igdvs.org, or phone (707) 376-8731.
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