Kids of all ages are invited to attend Sage City Symphony's annual Youth Concert, which will feature college and high school soloists and elementary student players joining the orchestra. Admission is free and open to all.
The program will feature selections from Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, with soloist Robin Wang; Dittersdorf's Double Bass Concerto in D Major, with soloist Grace Winters; Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; and the opening of Beethoven's iconic Fifth Symphony. String students in Grades 3 to 6 from the North Bennington Strings at the Village School, led by director and instructor of violin and cello Perri Morris, have been invited to join the orchestra to perform Suzuki's Allegro.
Robin Wang, from Vancouver, Canada, has been playing piano for 13 years. She initially studied with Ronald Morgan and currently studies with Doris Stevenson at Williams College. Robin holds a Licentiate Diploma in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, as well as the 2018 National Gold Medal for the Licentiate exam. She first performed at Carnegie Hall in 2014 and has won awards at many national and international competitions. Although she no longer competes, music remains one of her greatest passions. A junior at Williams College majoring in physics and classics, Robin plans to pursue engineering after graduation. Apart from piano, she also enjoys reading old books, listening to heavy metal, and playing violin.
Grace Winters is a junior at Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She started playing bass at 10 years old and has studied under James Bergin and Robert Zimmerman. Grace has performed at the Massachusetts Western District Festival and All-State Festival. She recently played in a concert at Mass MoCA with professionals from New York and the local area in a premiere of the live version of Murray Hidari's Distanced Together, a piece for a 60-part string ensemble. She enjoys performing with Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra (CIAO) and Sage City Symphony. Grace looks forward to continuing to play and grow as a musician.
Perri Morris, director and instructor of violin and cello for the North Bennington Strings at the Village School in North Bennington, Vermont, is a renowned cellist who had her very first cello lesson with Sage City Symphony manager Gail Smith in 1967 and went on to study with conductor and cellist Michael Finckel and others before earning a bachelor's degree in performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, a master's degree in performance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a bachelor of arts degree from Mount Holyoke College. A registered Suzuki teacher, she teaches at the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute and the Williamstown Orchestra Workshop each summer; she has also taught strings at the Pine Cobble School in Williamstown. In addition to maintaining private lesson studios in Williamstown and Bennington, she performs regularly with the Vermont, Springfield, and Berkshire Symphonies and is principal cellist of Opera North, New Hampshire.
Sage City Symphony's 2022–23 season heralds two important anniversaries: the 30th anniversary with conductor Michael Finckel, and the 50th anniversary of the Symphony's first performance under Lou Calabro.
Sage City Symphony is a registered federal non-profit organization in the State of Vermont that relies entirely on generous donations, gifts in kind, grants, and volunteer services from individuals, local foundations, businesses, and sponsors. Donations are gratefully received by mail at Sage City Symphony, PO Box 547, Shaftsbury, VT 05262 or online via www.SageCitySymphony.org. Concerts are always free and open to all.