Send this story Print this story

Adjust text size

Four teens to perform at Youth Orchestra Festival
Event offers chance to play together, help less fortunate youths

by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

Four hundred young musicians, ages 12 to 21, will be performing at the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival's BAYOF Hope Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the new 1,400-seat Weill Hall at Sonoma State University.

The 100-member Young People's Symphony Orchestra of Berkeley, which is part of the performance, will feature three musicians from Amador Valley High School: senior Beverly Fu, 17, who plays the violin and is the orchestra's concertmaster for this season; freshman Daniel Gurevich, 14, who plays the English Horn and oboe; and senior Irene Kim, 17, a cellist.

Fu, Gurevich and Kim were also chosen for the select 118 musician, all-star Festival Orchestra that will play the encore for the concert, and Fu has been selected as its concertmaster.

Oakland Youth Orchestra concertmaster Young Sun (Angel) Kim, who is a senior at Amador Valley, also will play the BAYOF Hope Concert and has been selected as a member of the Festival Orchestra. She and Fu have played in all three of the previous Hope Concerts.

The event was begun in 2009 as a way to help kids in need while giving young musicians a chance to come together. It has raised $65,000 for Bay Area homeless and underserved youths.

Sunday's music will include works by Jean Sibelius, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Alexander Borodin, Christopher Theofinidis and Gustav Mahler. The event will be presented by KDFC radio's morning host, Hoyt Smith.

For tickets, call (707) 546-8742 or visit www.santarosasymphony.com. Cost is $20 general; $60 reserved; and $15 for students under 17.