The Williamsburg Youth Orchestras’ concert Sunday will have its share of the romantic – music, that is.
The group’s performance at the Kimball Theatre in Merchants Square will focus on the music of Romantic and Romantic-inspired composers Edvard Grieg, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Aaron Copland.
The Romantic Era of classical music began in the late 18th century and continued through most of the 19th, including luminaries like Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms.
The music of Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Copland debuted from the second half of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th, but WYO executive director Ashley Scott said the warm melodies and expressive phrases of the Romantic Era influenced all three composers.
Each composer’s music poses a challenge to the musicians performing it, but Scott said that challenge speaks to the mission behind the Williamsburg Youth Orchestras.
The group features local student musicians ranging in age from 8 to 18 and is audition-only. Most of the orchestra’s members come from Williamsburg-James City County Schools, but Scott said its musicians also came from throughout the region, including York County and Newport News.
Members can be experienced musicians at the high school level, or beginners in the youth string groups. Scott said the range of musical experience, combined with the challenging repertoire, made the group a good primer for students.
“[The concert] is both exciting for the kids to play and pedagogically appropriate,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons the Williamsburg Youth Orchestras exist – you learn how to play up to your level, but also beyond your level.”
The group schedules three performances each year. Sunday will be its winter concert.
The performance will begin with three selections played by the group’s youth string orchestra, including Grieg’s famous selection from the 1867 Peer Gynt suite, “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”
The symphony orchestra – the ensemble for older, more experienced musicians – will take the stage for the second part of the performance, beginning with Copland’s Variations on a Shaker Hymn from the 1944 composition Appalachian Spring.
The orchestra will then take on Italian composer Vittorio Monti’s 1904 concert piece Czardas. The piece is based on traditional Hungarian folk dances and features several percussion solos. Scott said the orchestra would be joined by professional percussionist Dave Scott for the piece.
The orchestra’s final selection will be a suite from Tchaikovsky’s 1876 ballet Swan Lake. Based on Russian folk tales, the ballet tells the story of a princess who is turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer.
The concert will also feature a “mystery maestro,” a community member selected to conduct a piece during the performance.
“It will be a very exciting concert,” Scott said. “There will be plenty of enthusiasm, and it should be a special event for the kids.”
The concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday in the Kimball Theatre in Merchants Square. Adult tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Children’s tickets are $2.
For more information, visit the Williamsburg Youth Orchestras’ website available here.
