Review of New Music for a New Generation Festival Evening Concert, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, March 8, 2008

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“A marathon of the latest contemporary music… …remarkably confident and vibrant performances.”

Music of the future will be in good hands
By Joseph Dalton for the Times Union

Troy – A marathon of the latest contemporary music sounds like something staged in a funky concert hall in lower Manhattan, or perhaps at a conservatory somewhere.  But Saturday night it was happening in downtown Troy and, even more unexpectedly, the performances were all by middle school and high school musicians.

“New Music for a New Generation” was a commissioning project and day of activities put on by the Empire State Youth Orchestra, an organization that actually encompasses nine different ensembles.  Each group presented the world premiere of a work written expressly for it.  All of the composers attended rehearsals and were on hand to introduce their pieces.

It was a long but fulfilling evening that culminated with the youth orchestra and conductor Helen Cha-Pyo performing Samuel Adler’s “A Bridge to Understanding.”  The impressive and substantial five-movement piece was given remarkably confident and vibrant performance.  Adler conceived it as a concerto for orchestra with solos for many of the players, all of whom delivered with aplomb.

Adler recently turned 80; in tribute, the orchestra ended with Aaron Copland’s arrangement of “Happy Birthday,” written for Eugene Ormandy’s 70th birthday.

There were lots of generations represented, since Copland taught Adler and Adler taught Dana Wilson, who wrote “Water, water…” for the Repertory Orchestra and conductor David Beck.  Also a surging and powerful score, it was imaginatively orchestrated to evoke aquatic images, but also brought to mind Bernard Hermann’s dream music from “Vertigo.”

Janice Macaulay’s “Shifting Gears,” her third piece written for the string ensemble since 2000, was an imaginative essay in seven movements, with a skillful deployment of various string techniques, all based on a single motif.

Three lively percussion works began the evening.  “Harry’s Final Journey,” written by Richard Albagli for the Junior Percussion Ensemble, was a simple but evocative retelling of a climactic scene in the final “Harry Potter” book.

Both of the jazz ensembles were given tuneful big-band-style pieces, ripe with solo opportunities.  In Bill Cunliffe’s “O.C.,” a tribute to avant jazz master Ornette Coleman, the final bars were an improvisational free-for-all.

Concert Review, the Times Union, March 10, 2008

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Review of ESYO's Youth Orchestra concert, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, November 11, 2007

“Cha-Pyo’s hair-flying passion and intense involvement clearly inspired the musicians.  The orchestra displayed an abundant energy and technical proficiency, listened well to each other and rocked the hall with the finale’s fireworks.”

ESYO opens 29th season successfully at Troy Music Hall
By Geraldine Freedman for The Daily Gazette,

Troy -  The Empire State Youth Orchestra opened its 29th season Sunday afternoon at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with a varied program that was satisfyingly played.

Performing to a hall filled with family and friends, the orchestra began with Bernstein’s evanescent Overture to Candide.  Under conductor Helen Cha-Pyo, who is herself a bubbly ball of fire, the orchestra was enthusiastic.  The strings soared, the tempos sparkled and the players put some nice sharp edges to the mood changes.

Beethoven’s “Leonore Overture, No. 3” was a bit more of a challenge.  Technical proficiency and rhythmic clarity were never issues but, in the transparent and slower sections, control of the pitch and consistency in the woodwinds – things that confound even professional orchestras – were cloudy.  The young man who played first flute did a very nice job with the famous solo in the faster section.  Cha-Pyo, who has some of the clearest beat patterns around, kept the tempos tight and well paced.

The orchestra’s trumpeter, Anthony Bellino, a sophomore at Niskayuna High School, was this year’s Lois Lyman Concerto competition winner.  He chose Ernest Bloch’s “Proclamation.”  Written in 1955, it is a darkly dramatic work.

Melodic Abstraction

Bellino, who played from memory, seemed relaxed.  His part was a series of long and eloquent phrases, which were both melodic and abstract.  Bellino impressed with his delicate attacks, excellent breath control and pure tone.  He did well with the diverse dynamic levels and finished his phrases cleanly.  Cha-Pyo and the orchestra gave him a sympathetic and lush-sounding support.

The audience was extremely responsive, which seemed to surprise Bellino.  Still new to stardom, he took a moment to adjust before he shook the requisite hands and got off stage.

The test of the day, however, was Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.  One of the great works of the 20th century, it is haunting, yet celebratory, in turns.  It’s also quite difficult technically, and musically requires a depth of feeling to make the work ring.

Cha-Pyo’s hair-flying passion and intense involvement clearly inspired the musicians.  The orchestra displayed an abundant energy and technical proficiency, listened well to each other and rocked the hall with the finale’s fireworks.

Concert Review, The Daily Gazette, November 12, 2007

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