Volume 2, Number 1 Winter 2013 www.gbyo.

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GBYOAN
Music Director Christopher Hisey has announced the start of an exciting new program to introduce inner-city youth to great music. After months of planning, GBYO is offering a symphonic music program to Bridgeport school children every Saturday afternoon at Roger Ludlowe Middle School, where our ensembles rehearse. The program will culminate in a performance by these young musicians at GBYOs annual Spring Concert on Sunday May 19 at the Klein.

Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras Alumni Newsletter

GBYO Begins Community Outreach Program

In collaboration with the KEYS program (Kids Empowered by Your Support) of Bridgeport, GBYO has formed a nonaudition string orchestra. Elementary school children from Bridgeport receive transportation from the Bridgeport Public Library to RLMS, where they are conducted by Concert Orchestra conductor Erica Messina; KEYS provides the coaches. For several years, KEYS has provided one-on-one music instruction, but now GBYO will be able to give these young people mostly beginners the experience of playing with a well-organized string orchestra This program is made possible in part by the Fairfield County Community Foundation and by alumni donations.

Barb Upton Announces Retirement

Earlier this season, longtime Executive Director Barbara M. Upton announced that the 2012-13 season will be her last with GBYO after 24 years. Barb began her long and fruitful association with GBYO in 1989, seeing her three children Zeb, Elizabeth, and the late Zach through their years in the orchestras. After years of keeping things humming from behind the scenes, Barb was formally hired as GBYOs first Executive Director in 199 9. A region-wide search for a new ED is currently underway, but we all know: Barb Upton is a tough act to follow! The Board of Directors and the entire membership of GBYO wishes her a long, happy, healthy retirement but we still expect to see her at every concert!

Volume 2, Number 1 Winter 2013 www.gbyo.org

GBYO a Hit in Germany and Austria China next!

Forty-four GBYO musicians from the Principal and Symphony Orchestras toured Germany and Austria in late June and early July 2012, and performed concerts in the picturesque Alpine towns of Murnau-am-Staffelsee and St. Gilgen ancestral home of the Mozart family by the shore of the Wolfgangsee. The tour culminated with a performance before a full house at the spa of Bad Vslau outside Vienna. While staying in Munich, Salzburg and Vienna, the students visited musical sites all over Bavaria and Austria, including Mozarts birthplace and his home in Vienna. They visited Anton Bruckners church and tomb in St. Florian s Abbey, and the graves of the great composers in Viennas Central Cemetery. No trip to this part of the world would be complete without tours of Mad King Ludwigs castles, and a great helping of local culture and foods. Over two dozen family members, and a few GBYO alumni, took the trip as well some serving as roadies for the orchestra. The trip concluded with a whirlwind tour of Amsterdam on the way home. GBYO is now embarking on a two-year cycle of trips abroad. In the works now: a trip to China for the summer of 2014. The tour will visit the cities of Bejing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Hangzhou. Members of the 2013-14 Symphony and Principal Orchestras will comprise the performing ensemble that will present three concerts during the tour.

Strategic Partnership
GBYO has been working closely with the boards of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and the Klein Memorial Foundation (directors of the Klein Memorial Auditorium) to explore partnerships for future events. Stay tuned for more news! Those of you who attend Greater Bridgeport Symphony concerts may have noticed our students acting as ushers. If you see a GBYO nametag, stop and say hello!

Alumna Alyssa Rodriquez wins GBYO Composition Competition

Her Japanese Maple to be performed at Winter Concert
Composer Alyssa Rodriguez, a GBYO violinist from 2006 to 2010, has won the GBYO Composition Competition with her piece, Japanese Maple. The Principal Orchestra will debut Ms. Rodriguez composition at the GBYO Winter Concert. A native of Newtown, Connecticut, Alyssa was raised surrounded by horse farms and forest. From a young age, she nurtured a love and appreciation for nature, and began her artistic endeavors as a visual artist, capturing the countryside's creatures on paper. At the age of nine, she began studying the violin in public elementary school, which sparked a lifelong love for music. In high school, she began writing compositions for the violin, which soon blossomed into small pieces for string quartet and orchestra. Her pursuit of composition was largely inspired by the enthusiasm of Christopher Lee, the Music Theory and Composition teacher at Newtown High School, with whom she took basic through AP Theory. She currently studies at Ithaca College with Dr. Dana Wilson, working toward her B.M. in Music Composition with an emphasis in violin performance.

Volume 2, Number 1 Winter 2013 www.gbyo.org

WINTER CONCERT February 10 at the Klein

The Annual Winter Concert, featuring all five GBYO Ensembles (String Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Concert Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and Principal Orchestra) will take place Sunday afternoon, February 10 at 3 PM, at the beautiful Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport. Christopher Hisey, GBYO Music Director, will conduct the Principal Orchestra in Intermezzo from Hary Janos (Kodaly), Peer Gynt Suite (Grieg), Hoe Down from Rodeo (Copeland), and Japanese Maple by Composition Competition winner and former GBYO violinist, Alyssa Rodriguez. The Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Carrie Mascaro, will perform La Finta Giardiniera Overture (Mozart), SiegfriedIdyll (Wagner), and the first movement of Symphony No. 8 in B Minor "Unfinished" (Schubert). Erica Messina will lead the Concert Orchestra in Shepherds Hymn from Beethovens Symphony No. 6, Two South American Tangos, and Valse Lyrique (Himes). The String Orchestra, conducted by Aaron Lofaro, will present American Fiddle Triptych, Habaera (Bizet), and The Beatles Forever. Aaron Barkon and the Wind Ensemble will present Also Sprach Zarathustra (Strauss), Irish Tune from County Derry (Granger), Simple Gifts (saxophone ensemble) and Incantations (Smith). This second of three season concerts is sponsored by the Stratford Masonic Fraternities, and with support from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Alumni are cordially invited to attend. Tickets are $15/$10 for seniors, available in advance by check (see address below) or at the door. Come see the GBYO of today!

Recognize these photos?

Thats first Music Director George Jacobson holding the baton. Is this the 1964-65 New York Worlds Fair? Contact us if you know the story behind the pictures, or can identify any of the musicians. These photos were donated by Dr. Jacobsons son Karl, one of the original Connecticut Youth Orchestra musicians.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

GBYO depends on the support of its families, past and present. Your contributions can help to fund programs and ease the burden on families strapped by the current recession. Please consider a donation, so that GBYO can continue its positive influence on the lives of young musicians for the next 50 years. Visit our website for details, or contact Mark Halstead, Alumni Coordinator, at mhalstead@snet.net or (203)372-2724.

Volume 2, Number 1 Winter 2013 www.gbyo.org

Another opportunity, coming up for Fathers Day in June: Barnes & Noble Booksellers is partnering with GBYO on Sunday, June 9 at their Westport location to give a portion of all sales, presented with a special coupon to GBYO! Watch th your email for further details and coupon number. Come out to Barnes & Noble on the 9 for some books and CDs, and hear GBYO ensembles as a bonus! For those of you out of the area, you can buy on-line, using the Booksale ID number th during the week before June 9 , and a portion of your purchase will be donated to GBYO Planning is underway for the Annual GBYO Golf Classic to be held at Whitney Farms Golf Course in Monroe on May 6. For details or to register, go to www.gbyo.org/golf_outing. Please visit http://www.gbyo.org/support.htm. GBYO is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, and your donation is taxdeductible.

KEEP IN TOUCH!
If you would like to receive further issues of The GBYOAN, or would like to know more about upcoming concerts and events, please contact us via our website at www. gbyo.org, under the Alumni tab or fill out the information form below and mail to GBYO, P.O. Box 645, Fairfield, CT 06825-0645, attention Alumni Affairs.
Name:_____________________________________________ Years in CYO/GBSYO/GBYO:__________ Telephone:(____)_____-________ Address:____________________________________________ City:____________________________ Email:_________________________________

Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras, Inc.

PO Box 645 Fairfield, CT 06825-0645