Contact:  Meg Whalen, Director of Public Relations
E: megw@charlottesymphony.org
P: 704-714-5114
W: www.charlottesymphony.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                   February 11, 2011

The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, Inc. and the Charlotte Symphony Honor
Young Musicians at Youth Festival 2011
Thursday, March 17 @ 7:30 pm
Knight Theater

Jacomo Rafael Bairos and Ernest Pereira, conducting
Katelyn Mullins, harp
Rosemary Warren-Green, Honorary Chair

The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, Inc. and the Charlotte Symphony host the 24th annual Youth Festival at the Knight Theater on Thursday, March 17, beginning at 7:30 pm.  The concert event features Charlotte’s most outstanding young musical talent and highlights the Senior Division Grand Prize Winner of The Symphony Guild’s Young Artists Competition, harpist Katelyn Mullins.

A student at Covenant Day School in Matthews, 16-year-old Katelyn Mullins studies harp with Charlotte Symphony harpist Christine Van Arsdale.

The program begins with the magnificent “March Héroïque” by Camille Saint-Saëns, performed by the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and conducted by Ernest Pereira. The Charlotte Symphony, conducted by CSO Assistant Conductor Jacomo Rafael Bairos, and Miss Mullins will bring the first half of the concert to a close with the third movement from Alberto Ginastera’s “Concerto for Harp.”

The second half of the program showcases the Charlotte Symphony Junior Youth Orchestra as it performs popular music by Mozart (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) and Grieg (music from Peer Gynt), as well as the Iberian flavored “Fandango asturiano” from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol. Immediately following, more than 150 musicians from the Charlotte Symphony and the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra will give an exciting performance of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy together on stage. 

Conductor Ernest Pereira has led the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras since 1988, and serves as a violinist in the Charlotte Symphony. Assistant Conductor Jacomo Rafael Bairos joined the Symphony conducting staff in September. He also conducts the Symphony’s Lollipops Family Concerts and the Debbie Phillips Classical Concerts for Students.

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