Announcing the 2022 Young Artist Competition!
The Racine Symphony Orchestra is pleased to invite all students studying orchestral instruments or piano in grades 9-12 to compete in the 2022 Racine Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artists’ Competition.
The first-place winner will perform with the Racine Symphony on the April 10, 2022 Masterworks Concert. Cash Prizes will be awarded as follows: First place $800, Second place $600 and Third Place $400.
RULES AND REQUIREMENTS:
- We welcome applicants from Racine County, as well as current students of Racine Symphony Orchestra musicians.
- Students studying piano, string (including harp and classical guitar), wind, brass, and percussion instruments are invited to apply for this competition.
- Repertoire must be a concerto from the standard orchestral repertoire and readily available.
- Final musical selections are subject to approval by the Orchestra’s Artistic Director, Pasquale Laurino.
- Performance time for the competition is a required single, full movement of the selected concerto.
- Memorization is not required, but recommended.
- Auditions must be performed with piano accompaniment. Contestants must provide their own accompanist.
- Contestants must furnish four copies of the solo part of the audition piece for the judges’ use.
- No changes in repertoire are allowed after approval.
- Competitors should plan to be present at least 30 minutes before their assigned audition time.
- The Competition will take place regardless of weather conditions.
- The judges will select first, second and third place winners.
- Applications must be postmarked no later than Friday, January 14, 2022.
The first-place winner must be available to perform as guest soloist with the RSO at the April 10, 2022 concert (3:00pm), including all rehearsals on April 5, 7, and 8 (7:30pm).
Family, teachers, and friends of competing musicians are invited to attend the competition free-of-charge on Sunday, February 13 beginning at 1:00 pm. Please be aware there may be required covid-19 safety restrictions due to the RSO and/or UW-Parkside.
Contact heather@racinesymphony or 262-636-9285 for more information or questions.
Application materials below.
2022 Young Artist Competition Information
Thank you for a great season!
The 2020-21 Season finished on a high note and we have YOU to thank!
Not only have our online performances been a huge success but we met and exceeded our spring fundraising goal. THANK YOU for your generosity.
We are hard at work planning our 2021-22 Season and will release details as soon as possible.
In the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy our virtual content. These recorded performances will be available only through May 31 on our YouTube Channel.
THANK YOU for supporting the RSO this season. We look forward to many more years of enriching, educating, and entertaining our communities through the power of music.
Masterworks Season Finale Livestream – Program Notes
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (1977) – Arvo Pärt (1935 – )
Although there is no compositional school that follows him and he does not teach, Arvo Pärt’s impact on the music of today is profound. His life story is a reflection of the power of creativity to negotiate boundaries. Born in Paide, Estonia, he is playing piano by age 3 and studies at the Rakvere and Tallinn Music Schools. He does his mandatory service in the Soviet Army and becomes one of the leading figures in the Soviet avant-garde. However, his reception in the Soviet Union is complicated, and when he confesses to being religious, some of his music is banned and he falls into disfavor. In his quest for deeper expression Pärt creates a new musical language and spiritual ideology, tintinnabuli, which causes more confrontations with officials. Pärt and his family are forced to emigrate to Vienna and later to Berlin. When Estonia gains its independence in 1991, Pärt returns to his homeland, and at present his work is housed at the Arvo Pärt Centre, located in a beautiful pine forest near the sea in Laulasmaa, Estonia.
Pärt’s tintinnabuli, from tintinnabulum – Latin for ‘little bell,’ is the style he births in 1976. It is a technique for bringing together both melody and the components of a triad to create unity, governed in part by complicated mathematical formulas. In this style musical material becomes extremely concentrated and integrated in the art of polyphony; it ultimately expresses the composer’s special relationship to silence. And, tintinnabuli is also an ideology, based on Pärt’s Christian values and his quest for truth. Pärt has been composing in this style for over 40 years.
Arvo Pärt greatly admired Benjamin Britten, drawn to the purity of his music. His Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten employs a tolling “A” bell, a single melodic motif, and scores silence to begin and end the piece. Using both tintinnabuli and musical canon, the six minute work centers on an A-minor scale, repeated in descending pattern. Each subsequent entrance of the scale is an octave lower and half the tempo of the preceding line, creating five layers. The result is lush, spiritual, and hypnotic with the bell ringing and dying away throughout the piece. We are left in silence that is not absence but in silence that is sound. The work is “not only profoundly beautiful but also beautifully profound.”
Pärt’s instrumentation for Cantus is string orchestra and bell.
Simple Symphony, Op. 4 (1933 – 1934) – Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976)
Boisterous Bourree
Playful Pizzicato
Sentimental Sarabande
Frolicsome Finale
In the early 20th century Benjamin Britten seems a model British middle class boy, enjoying cricket and making steady progress in school. But, he is also composing by age 5, playing viola and piano by age 10, and by age 14 writing pages and pages of music, amassing a catalog of 100 works. Britten keeps track of these early pieces and after his studies at the Royal College of Music sometimes revisits them.
Written when he is twenty, the Simple Symphony is such an example. Seeking more work as a composer, Britten considers music for schools, and, drawing from eight of his young teenage pieces, he conceives his Simple Symphony. It will be a work that can be played by either string orchestras at bigger schools or string quartets at smaller institutions. But, it is also a work of deep thanks, since Britten dedicates the piece to his viola teacher and first musical mentor, Audrey Alston, who is responsible for introducing him to his second mentor, composition teacher Frank Bridge.
Simple Symphony avoids the typical classical movement “tempo” titles in favor of more delightful, imaginative descriptions. In shape the movements are typical with the first and last in sonata form, surrounding a scherzo and a slow movement. Boisterous Bourree is based on Britten’s piano Suite No. 1-Bourree and a vocal song, Country Dance; it opens the symphony with spirit and baroque counterpoint. Playful Pizzicato is centered on a piano Scherzo and a vocal song,The Road Song of the “Bandar-Log.” Plucked throughout both its good humored scherzo and trio sections, the second movement is to be played as fast as possible (presto possible pizzicato sempre) and alternates between a baroque jig and stomping accents in the slower trio. Sentimental Saraband draws from piano Suite No. 3 and a Waltz. With the feel of a modal British folk song, this movement alternates between an achingly tender first section, a graceful second part, and then returns to the haunting mood of the opening material. Finally, Frolicsome Finale includes bits from Piano Sonata No. 9 and an unidentified Song. In this final movement there’s a kind of athleticism, combined with a syncopated accompaniment and jolts of harmony and meter, all coalescing in a triumphal tone.
Britten premiered Simple Symphony in 1934, conducting an amateur orchestra. He would be amused to know that the piece is featured in the 2012 Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom, which prominently highlights other Britten pieces as its soundtrack.
Britten scores his symphony for 1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello and contrabass.
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 (1872) – Camille Saint-Säens (1835 – 1921)
Allegro non troppo
Allegretto con moto
Tempo primo
Camille Saint-Säens is indeed a man of many dimensions. A performer on both piano and organ, he is also a champion of early music and contemporary composers. He is a teacher and professor, a gifted writer, a world traveler, and a student of classical languages, astronomy, archaeology, philosophy, and the occult. But, in the 1870s national events altered his life.
Imagine a humiliating defeat by German States, dissolution of Napoleon III’s empire, and Parisian revolt. Camille Saint-Säens himself flees the siege of Paris, escaping bombardment and starvation. Finally, some stability returns and, with it, a desire for new French Art. It is into this moment of possibility in 1871 that Saint-Säens returns. He helps establish the Societe Nationale de Musique, whose goals are to promote French instrumental music and repel interest in German music. And, at 37 Saint-Säens begins work on this concerto.
His Cello Concerto No. 1 is written for Auguste Tolbecque, who is not only a cellist but also a viola da gamba player, an instrument maker, and a member of a family associated with France’s leading concert society. Thus, the piece is a mark of the composer’s growing esteem within French musical circles.
Structurally, this work is distinct because the concerto is one continuous movement with three sections that share interrelated ideas or cyclical development. In this aspect Saint-Säens may have been impacted by the work of Franz Liszt. The first section, Allegro non troppo, dispenses with the usual orchestral introduction. There is only one full orchestra chord; the solo cello immediately states the main motif with other melodies in a call and answer dialogue between soloist and orchestra following. The second section, Allegretto con moto, features a muted minuet and a cello cadenza. Finally, the Tempo primo restates the opening material and along with new themes and the fourth theme of the first section.
The concerto is written for solo cello and 2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets and timpani plus strings.
Program Note Sources
Arvo Pärt Biography – Arvo Part Centre, arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part/biography/
Arvo Pärt’s Cantus – Sabrina Parry, the orchestranow.org/arvo-parts-cantus, March 20, 2021
A Study of Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten by Arvo Pärt, Dharmacari Jayarava, jayarava.org/cantus
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten – Karin Kopra, Music in Movement, 2017
Tintinnabuli – technique, style, or ideology – Music in Movement, 2017
Saint Säens: Cello Concerto No. 1 – James Keller, San Francisco Symphony Notes, May, 2018
Saint Säens: Cello Concerto No. 1 – Max Derrickson, Program Notes, March 26, 2013
Simple and Plain – Maureen Buja, interlude.hk/simple-plain, May, 29 2018
Revisiting the Past Benjamin Britten: A Simple Symphony – Maureen Buja, interlude.hk/revisiting-the-past-benjamin-britten-a-simple-symphony, October 2, 2019
Benjamin Britten Simple Symphony – wisemusicclassical.com/work/43248/Simple-Symphony, 2021
Benjamin Britten: Simple Symphony – Luke Lewis, Programme Notes, 2015
Simple Symphony Benjamin Britten – John Henken, hollywoodbowl.com/musicdb/3302/simple- symphony
Program Notes by Pat Badger
We want to hear from you!
It’s time for our annual patron survey! Please take just a few minutes of your time to complete the survey and share your thoughts regarding the RSO. We take your feedback very seriously.
If you have friends or family who are not RSO patrons, please pass along our Community Survey. The shareable link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LJK37YR
Masterworks Season Finale Livestream
Join us for the conclusion of our virtual season on Sunday, April 18 at 3:00 pm for our Livestream Masterworks Season Finale.
The performance includes Cantum in Memorium Benjamin Britten by Arvo Pärt and Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony. The featured soloist is 2021 Young Artists’ Competition winner Nolan Boerner performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor.
This performance, broadcast from Bedford Hall on the UW-Parkside campus, is available free of charge on the RSO YouTube Channel.
Also included as part of this event is the PreConcert Conversation, an interview with Nolan Boerner which will be available at 2:30 pm via YouTube.
Program notes available the week of the concert.
Special thanks to UW-Parkside for their support of this project.
This performance sponsored in part by the generous support of the Racine Community Foundation, SC Johnson, and the United Performing Arts Fund.
Keep the music alive
The future is bright for the RSO.
This past year has been perhaps the most unusual in our 89-year history, but you rose to the challenge and helped us continue to serve our community. We are proud to have brought joy into your lives through the power of music with our virtual performances.
YOU made all this possible .
THANK YOU for your generous support.
Here at the RSO, we are busy planning a return to live performances for the 2021-22 season. We can’t wait to once again welcome you into the concert hall. As much as we take joy in these concerts, we also must acknowledge the tremendous expense involved. Ticket sales account for only a small portion of our proceeds and donors like you help keep the music alive.
An additional $5,000 will help sustain us into next season and continue to produce the concerts you know and love. Click here and make your gift today.
With your help we look forward to many more years of enriching your lives through the power of music. You are not merely our audience and donors. You are beloved friends and vital partners for our future. Together we can keep the RSO and the Racine arts community strong and vibrant.
This is possible with only your support. Your donation ensures a solid future for the RSO. Please give now.
If you have already donated, THANK YOU for your generosity. Your gift helps enrich, educate and entertain your community through the power of music.
PreConcert Cocktail Hour!
Spring is the season of new beginnings. Our “Four Seasons with the RSO” moves with the remaining season – “SPRING” – premiering as a live release Friday, March 26 at 7:00 pm.
Join us for a PreConcert Cocktail Hour with DIY cocktail from Carriage House Liquor Co. Each kit, designed for two people, includes mixings for the following:
Armenian Cherry Lemon Drop Martini with a Mango Rim
Surrogate Sunsplash
Irish Old Fashioned
Live cocktail mixing and tasting will begin at 6:30 pm on our Facebook page!
Cocktail packages are $50 and are available on a first come, first served basis through March 25. Order by calling 262-898-0279.
A bright future with the RSO
We are looking towards the future.
After a challenging year, there is finally good news on the horizon. Here at the RSO, we are hard at work planning our 2021-22 season and are counting the days until you are once again in the concert hall.
As much as we take joy in these concerts, we also must acknowledge the tremendous expense involved. Ticket sales account for only a small portion of our proceeds. Donors like you help keep the music alive.
An additional $5,000 will help sustain us into next season and continue to produce the concerts you know and love. Make your gift today.
The future is bright for the RSO. With your help we look forward to many more years of enriching your lives through the power of music. Together we can keep the RSO and the Racine arts community strong and vibrant.
Your donation ensures a strong return to music in your community. Please give now.
If you have already donated, THANK YOU for your generosity. Your gift helps enrich, educate and entertain your community through the power of music.
Your commitment to the arts in Racine makes all the difference. Make a donation today.
Spring Forward!
Ah, Spring in Wisconsin. It’s never the temperate and colorful season of our dreams, is it? But “Spring” with the RSO is different!
With the change in season, and hopefully temperature, our “Four Seasons with the RSO” moves forward. The remaining season – “SPRING” – premieres Friday, March 26 at 7:00 pm.
In addition to the beautiful performance by Maestro Pasquale Laurino and RSO musicians, we will host a special online cocktail tasting provided by Doug Nicholson from Carriage House Liquor Co. More information coming soon.
While this concludes our year-long project, it also marks a new beginning as we plan for our 2021-22 Season. Watch this space for more information.
Winter Masterworks Recording
Our Winter Masterworks Livestream was a HUGE success! THANK YOU to all who “attended”.
Congratulations to our RSO musicians, John Komasa, and 2020 Artist-in-Residence Joshua Zajac for their beautiful performances.
Did you miss the performance? NO WORRIES! It’s now available on our YouTube Channel. Performance information and program notes also available. And don’t forget the PreConcert Conversation with Maestro Laurino!