OXFORD >> Oakland Youth Orchestras will perform an original composition written for the orchestra’s 40th anniversary celebration.
The orchestras commissioned composer Catherine McMichael, a Michigan resident, to write “Symphony of the Ages”
Five publishers distribute McMichael’s compositions for piano, flute ensembles, string chamber groups, bands and choruses.
PHOTOS OF OAKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRAS IN OUR MEDIA CENTER
McMichael visited OYO more than a year ago to get a feel for the orchestras and craft her music for them.
“I was inspired, once I’d heard them play and had a chance to talk with them as a way of preparing to find ideas for their piece,” she says in a press release. Her initial theme for the piece was explorers and discoveries that would engage the imagination of the young musicians who would play it. But after meeting them she decided it should be about the members of the orchestras – their own explorations and discoveries as they mature.
“Symphony of the Ages” has four movements, each written for a characteristic found in the individual orchestras – Loyalty Velocity, Courage and Vision.
“Symphony of the Ages,” premieres April 30 at the Oxford Fine Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. as part of the spring concert to commemorate the 40th anniversary season of the Oakland Youth Orchestras. Oxford Fine Arts Center is at Oxford High School, 745 N. Oxford Road, Oxford.
Tickets will be available at the door at $10 adults, $5 children and students or $30 for four tickets.
The combined Oakland Youth Orchestras began in 1975 with 50 students and one orchestra. Today, OYO is a four-tiered orchestra program (Studio String, String, Philharmonia and Symphony orchestras) serving more than 350 students in grades two through 12 from Lapeer, Macomb, Oakland and St. Clair counties in southeast Michigan. The mission of OYO is to inspire student musicians by providing an exceptional orchestral experience to public, private and home-schooled students.
OYO is supported in part by grants from the Michigan Council of the Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as Corporate and Foundational Support from Oakland University Department of Music, GPS Educational Services, Meijer, Samuel Westerman Foundation, Rochester Tuesday Musicale, and numerous community-supported contributions.
Visit www.oyomi.org.
– Arts editor Nicole M. Robertson
