Bureau County Republican

Young Performers Competition winners will play on March 11

OTTAWA — The Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Conductor Lucia Matos, will present performances by winners of its 2018 Young Performers Competition at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 11, at Ottawa Township High School.

Junior division winner Aubrey Garretson, flutist, will perform “Papillion” by E. Kohler. She is the daughter of Chris and Todd Garretson of Peru. She is a freshman at LaSalle-Peru High School and is in the L-P band. She has been a student of Sue Gillio for five years and is also a member of the Illinois Valley Flute Ensemble, in which she plays alto flute. She has participated in the Summer Flute Retreat and the ninth and 10th annual Flute Days. In addition, she has earned first division ratings for her solos at Band-O-Rama and was selected to participate as fourth chair at the 2016 IMEA District 2 Music Festival in Rock Island. In 2017 she performed in the Senior Division ILMEA band.

Senior division winner Jessica Znaniecki, flutist, will play “Hypnosis” by Ian Clarke. She is the daughter of Linda and Neal Znaniecki of Oglesby and a junior at LaSalle-Peru High School. She is a member of the L-P marching and symphonic bands and participates in the spring musicals. She has studied flute with Sue Gillio for five years. She is also a member of the Illinois Valley Flute Ensemble, in which she plays the contrabass and subcontrabass flutes. She was selected for District 2 ILMEA for the past six years and in 2017 for the Senior Orchestra. In January 2017 and 2018, she performed in the All-State Honors Band at the Illinois Music Education Conference held in Peoria. She was the winner of the IVSO Young Performers Competition junior division in 2015 and was honorable mention in the senior division in 2016 and 2017. She participated in the annual Summer Flute Retreat in Peru and performed in the master class of Gerald Carey, flute professor emeritus, Western Illinois University, for the past four years. She has also performed on the baritone for the 2015 Tuba Christmas at IVCC. She was a NCI ARTWorks SHINE honoree and performed at the SHINE Gala in May 2016. She is a member of the Chicago Flute Club and National Flute Association.

Also on the program is Symphony No. 8 in G Major by Dvorák, described as “a classic example of music in which a simple and direct exterior hides a very sophisticated and multi-layered interior” by Kenneth Woods, Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of Colorado Mahler Fest. The first movement begins with a hint of darkness. The melody in G minor is very lyrical. The strings open the second movement with a heartfelt and somewhat sentimental melody. The third movement is in the style of an Austrian folk dance. In the fourth movement a fanfare is heard again and again.

Admission to the concert is by season subscription or individual ticket, available at the door or online at ivso.org. Adult tickets are $20 and students K-12 are free with a student ID. College students with ID are $5. This program is sponsored by the Miller Group Charitable Trust and partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Season sponsors are Ning Communications and Ottawa Radio. The auditorium is handicapped accessible.