| ||||||||||
| November 28, 2005 Young musicians on big stage
MELBOURNE - Rachel Ho, 8, took her seat among the violinists in the Brevard Youth Symphony's intermediate "concert orchestra" Sunday, nervous about performing Bach, Mozart and classic Christmas carols in front of hundreds of people. "I like to play the violin because it's like music to my ears," said Rachel, one of the youngest students in the intermediate orchestra. "I'm proud of myself because of the accomplishments I've done." Rachel was one of 125 members of The Brevard Youth Symphony Orchestra's intermediate and advanced orchestras to perform, giving an early holiday gift to the community with their 12th annual holiday concert. The concert was a fundraiser for the Central Brevard Sharing Center, with concertgoers offering canned food or an unwrapped toy as the price of admission. Officials said 500 people attended the concert. This year's performance was at The King Center for the Performing Arts. In some years past, they have held the concerts at outside venues. Paul Ashworth, 15, is a sophomore at Titusville High School and plays percussion in the BYSO's advanced symphony orchestra. "It's actually a great experience for later on in life, if I decide to take a music career," Ashworth said before performing arrangements for Hanukkah and Christmas, along with "Greensleaves." But the adults also said they take away a tremendous satisfaction from their involvement. "It's by far the most rewarding part of my life in the music process," advanced symphony orchestra conductor Joseph Kreines said. "They're willing to learn and make progress." Kreines explained that he has the children play music too advanced for them, simply to expose them to it, although they don't perform it publicly. Rachel's mother, Huey Ho, beamed with pride backstage as her daughter played. "I always wanted to play violin myself, but I never got to take lessons, so I give her every opportunity to learn an instrument" said Ho, who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan. She said Rachel began playing at 4 years old and practices a minimum of five hours a week, including two hours every Monday with the BYSO. As the advanced symphony orchestra finished "Deck the Halls," shouts of "Bravo!" rang out through the King Center. Contact Moore at 409-1422 or kmoore@flatoday.net
|
