Members of the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra performed at Smith Recital Hall in Urbana during their 2022 Winter Concert. The orchestra will perform again this Sunday.
Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
URBANA - The East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra will perform its annual Winter Concert this Sunday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. at Smith Music Hall on the University of Illinois campus. Orchestra members are the top classical student instrumentalists in the area. The musicians, who hail from Champaign, Urbana, Mahomet, Monticello, and Danville, go through a rigorous audition process for their chairs. Sunday's program features the overture to Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco, a medley from the musical Les Misérables, Norwegian Dances by Edvard Grieg, Andante Festivo by Jean Sibelius, and the first movement of Antonín Dvořák's Eighth Symphony. The CUYO focuses on providing young musicians in the Champaign-Urbana area with opportunities to perform in an orchestral setting. It serves middle school and high school students, offering them a chance to enhance their musical skills, work with experienced conductors, and perform a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary works. "This is challenging music for the students, and they’ve worked hard since mid-September to bring it to performance level," Kevin Kelly, music director for the youth orchestra, said. "You will be impressed and entertained!" Admission to the event is free and begins promptly at 7 p.m. Smith Music Hall is located on the University of Illinois campus at 805 S. Mathews Ave.
"These talented students have worked long and hard to prepare this wonderful music, and we would all be gratified to see you in the audience," said Kevin Kelly, Music Director
for youth orchestra.
The program includes two popular Russian pieces from Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, as well as works from American composers Aaron Coplan, Irving Fine, Virgil Thomson, and John Philip Sousa.
Admission to the event is free to the public and begins promptly at 7 p.m. Smith Memorial Hall is located on the University of Illinois campus at 805 S. Mathews Avenue.
