ECIYO to host spring concert on Sunday

Urbana -- The East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra will present this year's spring concert at Monticello High School's auditorium this Sunday.

The May 15 concert will be free and starts at 7:00 pm.

"The kids have worked long and hard during a challenging time, and the results will be very much worth hearing," said Kevin Kelly, Music Director for the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra. "If you have the evening free, I hope you’ll consider attending."

The young musicians who will perform on Sunday are the top high school classical instrumentalists in the area. The student-musician group, who audition individually for their chair, consist of 49 students from Champaign, Urbana, Mahomet, Monticello, and Danville.

In addition to classical pieces from Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart, concert-goers will hear new work by Aaron Rosenstein, a member of the orchestra.

"The kids have worked long and hard during a challenging time, and the results will be very much worth hearing," Kelly added.

Youth orchestra to perform on campus this Sunday

The East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra will perform a concert at Smith Recital Hall in Urbana this Sunday, January 16, at 7pm.

The orchestra is made up of 49 students from the local area including Champaign, Urbana, Mahomet, Monticello, and Danville. Each student must audition for a spot in the program run by The Conservatory of Central Illinois. The young musicians are among the top high school classical instrumentalists in the area.

"We’ve been preparing since mid-September, with weekly rehearsals on Sunday afternoons at the Krannert Center," said Kevin Kelly, Conductor and Program Director. "The orchestra plays professional-level music from the standard orchestral repertoire, which presents expressive and technical challenges and tremendous learning opportunities for talented, highly motivated student musicians."

The program includes Giuseppe Verdi Overture to The Force of Destiny, Camille Saint-Saëns Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, and Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor and No. 6 in D Major.

"This particular program has two selections drawn from operas—by Verdi and Saint-Saëns—two influenced by national styles of particular countries—the Irish dances of Arnold and the Hungarian dances of Brahms—and a movement from a celebrated symphony by Dvořák, who was a protege of Brahms," Kelly said. "Some of the tunes will be quite familiar to classical music fans, but all of it can easily be enjoyed by even the novice listener."

The concert is free to the general public and proof of vaccination or negative COVID test is required for admission.

The musicians for Sunday's program include:

Violin: Noel Chi, co-concertmaster, Jenna Shin, co-concertmaster, Elijah Song, co-concertmaster, Sierra Freund, assistant concertmaster, Emily Duong, Sarah Guo, Andrew Kim, Maggie Li, Wesley Lu, Swarup Majumder, Elan Pan, Shreyas Singh, Bruce Tang, Maya Viswanathan, Max Wang, Renee Wang, Emily Wilson, James Yan, and Dan Yang.

Viola: Sarah Kim, principal and Advait Rajmane.

Cello: Yelim Kim, principal, Ellie Kim, Sarah Su, Jeana To, Firmiana Wang, and Jason Yan.

Bass: Kalah Weber, principal and April Vanichtheeranont.

Flute: Grace To, principal, Hewitt Friedman, Elizabeth Su, and Jonas VisGirda.

Piccolo: Jonas VisGirda.

Oboe: William Ding, principal, and Ioelle Lee.

Clarinet: Benjamin Chang, co-principal, Stefania Dzhaman, co-principal, and Teo Percoco.

Bassoon: Christian Deck.

Horn: Owen Robinson, principal, and Mason Miao.

Trumpet: Gabe Difanis, co-principal, and Aaron Rosenstein, co-principal.

Trombone: Roman Di Girolamo, principal and Jack Minor, and Nick Wurl (guest).

Tuba: Owen Ericson.

Piano: D. J. Wang.

Timpani: Elianna Lee.

Percussion: Jason Kim

All that jazz

With well-renowned saxophone player Chip McNeil looking on, Issac Hanson belts out a series of notes while playing the alto version of the instrument during a jazz tune with the Tito Carillo Quintet on Wednesday evening. Hanson, a 15-year-old high school sophomore and student of McNeil, performed before a crowd of 40 or so patrons under the outdoor tent at the Rose Bowl Tavern in Urbana. This weekend the Rose Bowl and several other venues in Urbana will host live music performances for the annual C-U Folk and Roots Festival.

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Marching Spartans play in Labor Day parade

Above, a member of the SJO Marching Band heads south on Broadway Avenue just south of Lincoln Square Mall earlier today. On the left, a member of the horn section chants with fellow band members on their march through the streets of Urbana. In addition to the Spartans, the parade, also known affectionately as the 'Candy Parade', featured floats by area unions, community organizations, politicians, as well as other high school marching bands. See more photos of the marching band from their halftime show at last Friday's home football game against St. Thomas More here: SJO vs STM football photo gallery.

(Photos: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Emmert, Mabry earn academic honors at EIU

Abigail Emmett and Samantha Mabry were two of more than 700 undergraduate students named to Eastern Illinois University’s Fall 2018 Deans' List.

Emmert, a music education major with a focus on teaching and 2016 graduate from St. Joseph-Ogden High School, served as a student ambassador for the EIU music department, held the role as principal chair flute of Concert Band and performs with several bands as a student-musician.

A drum major the SJO Marching Band, she also earned the same title and responsibilities with the Panther Marching Band. In May of last year she was awarded the Errett & Mazie Warner Presidential Award and the Helen J. Krehbiel Music Scholarship.

Mabry, who was a four-year veteran cross country and track athlete in high school, is an English major at EIU.

She finished her prep career as a member of last spring's state championship track team. The 2018 SJO alum is continuing her athletic career with the Panthers. A red-shirt freshman in cross country this past fall, she is listed as a middle distance specialist on the university's track & field roster.

The Deans’ List at EIU recognizes undergraduates with a declared major whose academic performance has been excellent. Eastern Illinois University students who achieve a GPA of 3.80 to 4.00 (on a 4.00 scale) while completing a minimum of 12 graded semester hours, excluding credit/no credit grades, are honored each semester.