Members of the press,

Please feel free to copy and publish any of the photos you find on this site. All our students have filed releases for the publication of their images and music and all photographer welcome publication as long as you attribute their work.

Please also feel free to contact me to request comp tickets to our concerts, or to request information, or access to as yet unpublished photos or larger versions of photos you see here.

Barbara Stack

Executive Director

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OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Fresh SPRING CONCERT
44th Season of great music by great kids
where education meets performance

OAKLAND, CA — May 18, 2008, 7:30 pm, at the Oakland Interstake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-day Saints, 4770 Lincoln Avenue. The concert will be conducted by the masterful Maestro Michael Morgan and the brilliant OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies. Admission is FREE

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by R. Vaughan Williams
Symphonie Espagnole by Edouard Lalo
Ceci Li, violin
Winner, OYO Concerto Competition
Decoration Day by Charles Ives
Symphony No. 5 by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky

And featuring a Side-by-Side performance with the Oakland East Bay Symphony’s MUSE Program in the Oakland Public Schools

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 78 talented students aged 12 to 21 years from throughout the Bay Area. OYO is supported by tuition, grants, and contributions.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Concerto Competition Winner and Violin Soloist Ceci Li a Junior at San Domenico High School in San Anselmo, has been with OYO for 2 years. She started playing the violin at age 10 in the MUSE Program and currently studies the violin with Debbra Wood Schwartz. Ceci has participated in Crowden Summer Music, Young People’s Chamber Orchestra, Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, Summer Music Opera and Summer Music Berkeley. And just last year, Ceci was awarded third place for the Contra Costa performing arts Society Scholarship Competition. Ceci is also a current member of San Domenico’s Orchestra Da Camera, which won first place as Grand Champions for the American Strings Teachers’ Association National Orchestra Festival 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Apart from music, Ceci enjoys swimming during the summer and is a seven-year member for the Live Oak Hammerheads swim team in Oakland. Ceci is the oldest child of three. She has two younger sisters who also play the violin, Lyly and Hilda. Ceci would like to thank her family, friends, and Margot Harrison for their great support.

Founded in 2000 by the Oakland East Bay Symphony and Michael Morgan, Music for Excellence, MUSE, is a training orchestra in the Oakland Public Schools for young musicians in grades 4-6. Students who have an interest in orchestra and can read music rehearse weekly under the baton of Kathrynn Lyle. She is assisted by musicians from the Oakland East Bay Symphony and co-directors Carl Stanley and Margot Harrison. Currently there are students from are Franklin, Cleveland, La Escuelita, Glenview, Chabot and Thornhill Elementary as well as Edna Brewer and Montera Middle Schools.

Fresh: We’ve programed OYO’s third concert with a fresh take on old English music, the winner of the OYO concerto competition, a fresh perspective on a Memorial Day parade day by Charles Ives, and a symphony written in the spring and summer of 1888 by the always fresh Peter Tchaikovsky.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org
Photos and this release available at www.oyo.org or by email

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Hot WINTER CONCERT
44th Season of great music by great kids
where education meets performance

OAKLAND, CA — January 27, 2008, 3 pm, at First Congregational Church in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by the masterful Maestro Michael Morgan and brilliant OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Overture to The Magic Flute WA Mozart
Festive and Commemorative Music Johannes Brahms Fantasia on Theme by Thomas Tallis R Vaughan Williams
Old Wine in New BottlesGordon Jacob
Dance of the Tumblers from Snow Maiden N. Rimsky-Korsakov
Danzón No. 2 Arturo Márquez
Concert Notes

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. First Congregational Church is located 2501 Harrison Ave., Oakland CA 94612.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 77 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Hot and Cool: The Maestros programmed OYO’s second concert with works spanning three centuries, from Austria, Germany, Russia, England, and Mexico. Three pieces show off the full sizzling symphonic orchestra, and three air the chiseled skills of the OYO string, brass and wind ensembles. Pleasures abound for the whole family!

The Austrian Mozart wrote many wonderful operas, and this overture from the “magic” opera is a delight. The German Brahms wrote Festive and Commemorative Music at a happy time, and played by our wonderful brass, its beauty will bring joy to our audience. The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams tapped old church sources for this mystical Fantasia played by the legendary OYO strings. Londoner Gordon Jacob tapped secular English song for his delightful piece for winds and brass. Russian Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a master orchestrator, wrote his winter opera on the themes of love and longing and the rollicking Dance of the Tumblers will delight! The contemporary Mexican Arturo Márquez continues the dance with his take on a Cuban danzón that begins with a slow, sensuous theme and builds to an irresistibly sizzling rhythmic climax.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org
Photos and this release available at www.oyo.org or by email

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Fantastic FALL CONCERT
44th Season of great music by great kids
where education meets performance

OAKLAND, CA — November 11, 2007, 3 pm, at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by the masterful Maestro Michael Morgan and brilliant OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Concerto Grosso  Francesco Geminiani
Double Violin Concerto JS Bach
Symphony No. 1       Jean Sibelius
Musica Mobilis for Brass choir James A. Beckel. Jr.
Concert Notes

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Allen Temple Baptist Church is located 8501 International Blvd., Oakland CA 94621.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 79 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Allen Temple Baptist Church, organized in 1919, has a rich heritage of making a positive difference in the lives of people in East Oakland, the Bay Area and around the world. Betty Gadling is Minister of Music.

Feast for the Ears: OYO’s first concert is programmed with Baroque music featuring our astonishing string soloists, the master of passionate melody, Finland’s Jean Sibelius, and sizzling modern brass music too!

The Italian, Francesco Geminiani, a contemporary of Bach, was a brilliant violinist, and passionately expressive in his composing. German Johann Sebastian Bach was a master, and this playful, beautiful, and energetic piece is a favorite of musicians world round. Michael Morgan at the harpsichord is sure to give this a bit of Oakland styling as well! The Finnish Jean Sibelius wrote this wonderful first Symphony in 1899. He was a fan of the Russian composer Tchaikovsky, and like him, knew what to do with an orchestra! Sibelius’ love of nature gives this great work dramatic scope and wild passion, and his love of melody lends deep feeling and beauty. American James A. Becke, Jr. wote Music Mobilis to reflect the magic of Alexander Calder’s moving mobile sculptures.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org
Photos and this release available at www.oyo.org or by email

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Fresh SPRING CONCERT
43rd Season of great music by great kids
where education meets performance

OAKLAND, CA — May 20, 2007, 3 pm, at Castro Valley Center for the Arts. The concert will be conducted by the masterful Maestro Michael Morgan and the brilliant OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Call of the West Elinor Armer
World Premiere of two movements
Overture in D Handel arr. Elgar
Toccata and Fugue in D minor   Bach arr. Stokowski
Summer Evening  Frederick Delius
Piano Concerto in a minor, mvt. 1      Edvard Grieg
Amanda Mok, piano
Cello Concerto 1, mvt. 1        Dmitri Shostakovich
Joshua Chen, cello

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Castro Valley Center for the Performing Arts is located at 19501 Redwood Road, Castro Valley CA 94546.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 82 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Fresh: Maestro Morgan programs OYO’s third concert with a fresh off the press new commission by masterful and playful composer, Oakland native, Elinor Armer, the two winners OYO concerto competition, two fresh takes on Bach and Handel by the orchestrators Elgar and Leopold Stokowski, and a wistful Summer Evening by Delius.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org

Elinor Armer studied composition with Darius Milhaud and Leon Kirchner and piano with Alexander Libermann. She has received the Norman Fromm Composer's Award, fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Chamber Music Conference/Composer's Forum of the East, Yaddo and the Djerassi Foundation, and numerous commissions. In 1991, she received the Gerbode Foundation New Music Composition Award. She has performed, lectured and adjudicated throughout the country. Her works are published by J.B. Elkus and Son and C.F. Peters. She is one of the co-founders of Composers, Inc. Her collaborative work with author Ursula Le Guin, Uses Music in Uttermost Parts, an eight-part fantasy series, has been recorded on the Koch International Label. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory.
Elinor Armer writes:
I am composing a work designed specifically for the capabilities and sensibilities of the young players in the Oakland Youth Orchestra. Like most, if not all, of them, I am a local product—born in Oakland, raised in the Sacramento Valley, and educated in the Bay Area. My professional work for the last forty plus years has been geared to the needs and goals of emerging young musicians on the West Coast.

Teaching is my fulfillment. And being a Californian is my pride. I have tried to develop a distinctly Californian voice in my compositions. This means coming up with music which, like California, is warm, colorful, varied—inventive as well as appealing, lyrical as well as energetic, youthful in spirit while sophisticated in realization.

It has been a lifelong ambition of mine to write a symphonic work about California—its mountains, valleys, cities, ocean, and people. Now I have the opportunity to merge this dream with my other joy in life—working with the young.

The title of my piece for the OYO is “Call of the West” (shades of Jack London, another Oakland native.) It consists of four movements—‘Mountain Sunrise,’ ‘Valley Heat,’ ‘City Bea,’ and ‘Pacific Night.’ The score will allow both soloists and the orchestra as a whole to shine, and is designed to appeal to the players in its theatricality, scenic descriptiveness, and extroverted mix of ethnic and musical styles.

I am especially pleased that the piece will be played on a tour in Greece, because of certain affinities that I believe exist between those islands and our own west coast—natural beauty, much of it rural; intimate relationship with both land and sea; a populace both earthy and enlightened, both high-hearted and civilized.

I am thrilled and grateful to have this opportunity to share in the Oakland Youth Orchestra’s musical ambassadorship.

Amanda Mok is a senior at Northgate High School. She started studying piano at age four and currently studies with James Gardner in Walnut Creek. In addition to piano, Amanda started studying violin at age eight and studies with Debbra Schwartz. She also participates in several ensembles including the Oakland Youth Orchestra, Northgate String Orchestra, and several quartets at her school. Her favorite composers include Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, and Ernest Chausson. Besides music, Amanda enjoys reading, scrapbooking, learning to play guitar, playing Dance Dance Revolution®, and spending time with her lovely friends. Next year, Amanda will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where she will pursue a major in Biological Engineering and a minor in Music.

OAKLAND, CA — March 4, 2007, 3 to 7 pm, at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Avenue in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by the masterful Maestro Michael Morgan and the brilliant OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Stars and Stripes ForeverJohn Philip Sousa
Second Violin Concerto, first mvt.         Henri Wieniawski
Rachel Taylor, violin
Masquerade Suite         Aram Khachaturian
Hoedown from Rodeo        Aaron Copland
Petite Symphonie for Winds      Charles Gounod
Greek and Armenian folk music and special musical guests the Kairos Youth Choir!

Admission is $75. Tickets may be purchased from Oakland Youth Orchestra by mail or via our website, www.oyo.org.

Celebrity Hosts and Auctioneers Janice Edwards, host of NBC11 Vista and Frosene Phillips, Oakland Tribune columnist, “Frosene on the Scene” will make this Gala a true celebration! And the youthful spirit and fabulous music of Oakland Youth Orchestra will ensure a fun-packed afternoon of delights for all.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 80 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Hot WINTER CONCERT
43rd Season of great music by great kids
where education meets performance

OAKLAND, CA — January 28, 2007, 3 pm, at First Congregational Church in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by the masterful Maestro Michael Morgan and the brilliant OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Overture to Nabucco   Giuseppe Verdi
Overture to Mazeppa Franz Liszt
Chamber Symphony Op.110a        Dmitri Shostakovich
Petite Symphonie for Winds      Charles Gounod

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. First Congregational Church is located at 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland 94612.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 80 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Sleighride for the Ears: Maestro Morgan programs OYO’s second concert with two sizzling mid-nineteenth century overtures, and two pieces which show off the chiseled skills of the OYO string ensemble and wind ensemble.

Italian Giuseppe Verdi wrote many wonderful operas, and this overture is a delight.
Hungarian Franz Liszt was a skilled composer in many forms. The Overture to Mazeppa is known to get its pizzazz from particularly difficult passages, especially for the OYO strings, who will certainly try to impress their audience. This exciting music was once featured in an Errol Flynn film!
Russian Dmitri Shostakovich       originally wrote the Chamber Symphony for a string quartet in 1960. It hails from one of the darkest periods of his life, and evokes the horrors of fascism and generally of the Second World War. It will revolutionize your idea of what stringed instruments can play!
The French Charles Gounod wrote in many forms, including opera. His Petite Symphonie is an absolutely delightfully delicate take on a classical symphony with a very limited number of instruments—just 9 woodwind and brass players.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Fantastic FALL CONCERT
43rd Season of great music by great kids
where education meets performance

OAKLAND, CA — November 12, 2006, 3 pm, at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by the brilliant Maestro Michael Morgan and OYO Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: “You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated.”

OYO Concert Program
Concerto Grosso  Arcangelo Corelli
Symphony No. 8      William Boyce
Michael Morgan Conducting from the Harpsichord
Lieutenant Kije Suite        Sergei Prokofiev
Four Dances from Rodeo        Aaron Copland

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Allen Temple Baptist Church is located 8501 International Blvd., Oakland CA 94621.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 77 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein. Morgan is a noted teacher of conducting and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Allen Temple Baptist Church offers many community care programs. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr. has served as Pastor for over 30 years. Betty Gadling is Minister of Music.

Feast for the Ears: Michael Morgan programs OYO’s first concert with early music and selections from early classical music. There are two sizzling pieces from the 20th century too!

Arcangelo Corelli perfected the unison ensemble playing of the orchestra. The drama for our audience is to see whether OYO can have all the string bows move as one.
Londoner William Boyce was just a bit younger than the great Handel, whom he admired. Symphony No. 8 is in the French style. And Michael Morgan at the harpsichord is sure to give this a bit of Oakland styling as well!
Russian Sergei Prokofiev   wrote the Lieutenant Kije Suite for a film with the intent of entertaining mass audiences. We hope you will fall for its many charms!
American Aaron Copland was asked by the great choreographer Agnes de Mille to write something like his Billy the Kid. “I don’t want to do another cowboy ballet,” he protested. But he did and it’s great. Madison Avenue also loved it!

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org
Photos and this release available at www.oyo.org or by email

For Immediate Release
OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA FALL CONCERT
the 42nd Season of great music by great kids
celebrating Michael Morgan's Tenth Anniversary Season

OAKLAND, CA - November 13, 2005, 3 pm, at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by the brilliant Maestro Michael Morgan, Principal Conductor Bryan Nies and Oakland Symphony Chorus Guest Conductor Lynne Morrow.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: "You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated."

OYO Concert Program
Overture to Alcina   by George Friderick Handel
Overture to L'Isola Disabitata   by Joseph Haydn
Michael Morgan Conducting from the Harpsichord

Polovetsian Dances from Prince Igor  by  Alexander Borodin
conducted by Lynne Morrow
Requiem  by  Gabriel Fauré
with Oakland Symphony Chorus
Joanne Um, soprano    John Frederick, baritone
conducted by Bryan Nies

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Allen Temple Baptist Church is located 8501 International Blvd., Oakland CA 94621.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 75 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. They represent forty six different schools and are involved in athletics; school governance, and community volunteer service as well as music. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. There he was a student of Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa, and it was during that summer that he worked with Leonard Bernstein. Michael Morgan is a noted mentor of young conductors and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Lynne Morrow, Guest Conductor of Oakland Symphony Chorus is an alumna of OYO and teaches at Sonoma State University, directing the Vocal and Opera/Music Theatre Programs.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies holds the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, is Assistant Conductor of Opera San Jose, and an assistant conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.

Allen Temple Baptist Church offers many community care programs. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr. has served as Pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church for over 30 years.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org
Photos and this release available at www.oyo.org or by email

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For Immediate Release

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA SPRING CONCERT

the 41st Season of great music by great kids

the brightest stars of tomorrow…today

OAKLAND, CA - May 22, 2005, 7:30 pm, at First Congregational Church in Oakland. The concert will be conducted by Maestro Michael Morgan and Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: "You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated."

OYO Concert Program

Symphony No. 1 by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky

Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin by Richard Wagner

Hebrew Suite, First Movement "Rhapsodie" by Ernest Bloch

Alessandra Aquilanti, viola soloist and winner of OYO Concerto Competition

Chinese Pieces by  Pei Kun Xi

Triumph Song

Tibet Dance Song

Happy Women Soldiers

with Sherlyn Chew's Great Wall Youth Orchestra

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. First Congregational Church is located at 2501 Harrison Street Oakland CA 94612.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 76 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. They represent forty six different schools and are involved in athletics; school politics, and community volunteer service as well as music. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. There he was a student of Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa, and it was during that summer that he worked with Leonard Bernstein. Michael Morgan is a noted mentor of young conductors and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies is also Resident Conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek. Last year he won the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He was recently promoted to the position of Principal Conductor of OYO.

Viola soloist Alessandra Aquilanti was born in 1987, daughter of Giancarlo Aquilanti and Betsy London. In 1988 she and her family moved to Italy to live in her father’s hometown of Jesi. They remained in Jesi for four years, and as a result, Ale is fluent in Italian. Having grown up in the music world, playing an instrument was inevitable. Her mother is a professional violist in many, if not most, Bay Area orchestras. Her father composes, and is a professor of music at Stanford University. Her uncle Larry London, is a clarinetist, composer, and professor, and her grandmother, Ethel London, was the manager of the Oakland Youth Orchestra (OYO) for almost twenty years.

At age eight, Ale began playing violin and later joined the Youth Orchestra of Southern Alameda County (YOSAC) where she was a member from 1997 to 2001. She studied with Gretchen Sauer from 1998-2001, and now studies with Linda Green. Ale joined OYO as a violist in 2001 and has served as principal since the spring of 2002. Although she barely missed the Italy Tour in 2001, she participated in the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2004 where she never tired of watching the water go down the drain “the wrong way.” She is also a member of the San Leandro High School Orchestra, which rehearses every morning at the crack of dawn (seven o’clock). Aside from music, Ale enjoys acting, telling bad jokes, and generally being a ham. She will graduate from San Leandro High School this June and plans to attend New York University where she will undoubtedly continue her studies in viola.

AleAquilanti

Violist Linda Green is originally from Toledo, Ohio and attended Bowling Green State University, New England Conservatory of Music, and Syracuse University. She started on the viola in the 4th grade at school because she liked the sound and her older sisters played violin (too high) and clarinet (too something).

She has performed in Europe and Macau as a member of the Orchestra Nacional do Porto. In Montreal she played Brandenburg 6 as a soloist with the Syracuse University Symphony. In Iceland she was a tutor/extra with the Icelandic Youth Orchestrashe. In addition to her assistant principal viola duties in Portugal, she taught for three years at ARTAVE, the leading junior high/high school in the country for music. One of her students received the first prize in viola in a national competition called "Premio Jovens Musicos," winning a Capella viola and a concerto performance with the Gulbankian Orchestra in Lisbon. That student later received a full scholarship to The Royal Academy of Music in London. She was also a member of the Quarteto Jacob.

Linda moved to the Bay Area in 2001 and teaches music at Roosevelt Middle School in Oakland. She also plays viola in the Oakland East Bay Symphony and has played with the Toledo Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony, the Binghamton (NY) Symphony, the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra, the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and many of the Bay area ensembles.

Conductor and Composer Pei-Kun Xi graduated from the Shanghai Music conservatory in 1969. As principal conductor of the Shanghai and Peking Opera companies, he has conducted more than 600 performances of Chinese operas. From 1978 to 1985 he served as the Music director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and at the same time was the principal conductor of the Shanghai Youth Orchestra. Since coming to the US, he has studied conducting at the San Francisco Institute of Music and Art under Peter Black, and has received an MA from the New England Conservatory of Music. He plays the bassoon, piano, violin and several Chinese instruments. He also served as the music director and conductor for three major Chinese films and several Chinese television productions and has three commercially available recordings. Pei Kun Xi is a faculty member at Laney College in Oakland, CA. He is the composer in residence and the conductor for the Great Wall Youth Orchestra

The Great Wall Youth Orchestra was formed to accommodate "graduates" of the Purple Bamboo Orchestra, and welcomes interested students from throughout the Bay Area to audition for the orchestra. Student members range from elementary to high school age and play pieces that reflect their high level of skill in playing their chosen Chinese musical instruments. The orchestra rehearses on Saturdays under tutelage of musicians, who are expert in the various instruments, and plays at many concerts throughout the year.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org

Photos and this release available at www.oyo.org or by email

OYO Dress Rehearsal 11/14/2004. Bryan Nies leads the JC Bach Symphony from the keyboard while Michael Morgan looks on. Students pictured are Victoria Yoon, cello, and violinists Andrew Wilson, Alyssa Mathias, Alicia Tan, Vidya Pai, Sophia Zhang, and Jonathan Tzeng. B. Stack photo.

For Immediate Release

October 27,2004

OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA FALL CONCERT

the 41st Season of great music by great kids

the brightest stars of tomorrow…today

OAKLAND, CA - November 21, 2004, 3 pm, at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland. The concert will  be conducted by the brilliant Maestro Michael Morgan and Principal Conductor Bryan Nies.

Michael Morgan has said of OYO: "You have to experience it in person. There is an excitement that simply cannot be duplicated."

OYO Concert Program

Symphony in G minor JC Bach

Serenade No. 11 WA Mozart

Concerto Grosso in D Major GF Handel

Michael Morgan Conducting from the Harpsichord

Symphony No. 8 Antonin Dvorak

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Allen Temple Baptist Church is located 8501 International Blvd., Oakland CA 94621.

Oakland Youth Orchestra is comprised of 71 talented young music students aged 13 to 21 years from over 30 cities from throughout the Bay Area. They represent forty six different schools and are involved in athletics; school politics, and community volunteer service as well as music. The Orchestra is supported by tuition, corporate, foundation and government grants, and contributions from individuals in the community. To learn more visit www.oyo.org.

Oakland Youth Orchestra, founded in 1964 as the educational arm of the Oakland Symphony, is celebrating its 41st Season. OYO has been an independent non-profit organization since 1986, and is proud of its many alumni performing in as professional musicians throughout the world.

Artistic Director Michael Morgan was born in Washington DC where he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. There he was a student of Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa, and it was during that summer that he worked with Leonard Bernstein. Michael Morgan is a noted mentor of young conductors and advocate for music education in Oakland and around the world.

Principal Conductor Bryan Nies is also Resident Conductor of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek. Last year he won the prestigious Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He was recently promoted to the position of Principal Conductor of OYO.

Allen Temple Baptist Church offers several community care programs including senior and social service programs, a tutorial program, a food and clothing pantry, a prison ministry, AIDS ministry, as well as a Hispanic Ministry. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr. has served as Pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church for over 30 years.

Contact: Barbara Stack, Executive Director at 510.832.7710 or stack@oyo.org

PRESS RELEASE

October 20, 2004

Diana Moore has joined the Oakland Youth Orchestra as Development Manager. She comes to the 41-year old organization with experience in arts, education and health care fundraising. Most recently, she was the development director at the Alameda Civic Light Opera. She will oversee many aspects of OYO's fundraising, including grant writing, individual giving, the annual Pops concert and auction, sponsorships, audience development and program ad sales.