Opus 11
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CWOTO Opus 11

Tickets: click here to contact Edward Francis for advance tickets

    $15 general / $10 senior & student

Performers and Their Pieces

Egmont Overture    Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Conejo Concerto Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Thomas Osborn

Harp Concerto, Op. 4 No. 6    George Frederich Handel (1685 - 1759 )

Ms. Kristen Leire, 15, is a sophomore at La Reina High School. She has studied the piano for eleven years and the harp for six years, including participation in both the Southern California Junior Bach Festivals and the Contemporary Music Festivals sponsored by the Music Teachers Association of California.

Kristen plays in the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra and in its harp ensemble. She has also participated in the Young Pianist Concerto competition jointly sponsored by the Conejo Valley MTAC and the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra.

She has achieved the highest level (Advanced-10) in the MTAC-sponsored Certificate of Merit syllabus evaluations. Her harp teacher is Stephanie Bennett. She studies piano with Edward Francis. For over two years, she has operated her own business, "The Lyrical Leire," playing at corporate functions, weddings and private receptions, while maintaining an A+ average at school. 

Outside of music, she enjoys traveling and horseback riding.

Princess Piano Concerto    Michael Glenn Williams (b. 1957)

     (World Premiere)

Ms. Emily Perotti, 7, has studied piano for two and a half years under the direction of Dr. Kyung Lee, Vice President of the Music Teachers’ Association of California, Conejo Valley Branch.  Emily thinks of herself not only as an artist, but also as an athlete.  Emily holds Champion titles at the 2004 Ventura County Swim Championship, the 2003 Jimmy Stewart Quarter Mile Run, and the 2003 Thousand Oaks Chinese School Poetry Recital.  In addition, Emily is an avid snow skier and rock climber.  Emily aspires to swim with the US Olympic Team in 2012!  In her spare time, Emily loves to read books, play with her dolls, and simply have fun with imagination.

Emily is thrilled to have collaborated with Michael Glenn Williams in creating the “Princess Concerto” that is being premiered at OPUS XI.  It all started when Emily resolved in 2004 that she would perform in the 2005 OPUS XI, and she discovered that there was not a lot of music for a 6 year-old to choose from for piano and orchestra.   Moreover, while Emily found the classics beautiful, she wished there was a piece that had characters and stories to which she could more closely relate.  An opportunity came when Michael Williams asked if Emily would be interested in having her own concerto.  Emily was delighted.  Emily, who was full of childhood imagination, immediately shared with Michael her love for and fascination about unicorns, tigers and princesses, and her fears of evil magicians.  Over the next few months, Michael translated Emily’s fantasy into a beautiful concerto that was tangible and memorable not only for children, but for adults, as well.  For Emily, hearing the characters in her story come alive in the music, having the opportunity to work with a talented composer like Michael, and world premiering this piece are three of the most exciting aspects of this project.

Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 21     Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849 )

    III. Allegro vivace

Mr. Gary Chan, 14 is an honor student at Agoura High School. He began piano studies with Marlene Cooper when he was six years old and has been a student of Edward Francis for the past two years.

Gary has been a gold medal winner at the Contemporary Music Festival, which led to a performance in the Gold Medal Honors Recital at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. He was also a medal winner at the Southern California Junior Bach Festivals at the branch and regional levels, and he was invited to perform in the Tri-County Showcase held in Santa Barbara. As winner of the Conejo Valley Music Teachers’ AssociationYoung Pianist Award, Gary performed with the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra in the Fred Kavili Theater in the Civic Arts Plaza last year. He also won first place in the highly competitive Open category at the Southwest Youth Music Festival last July. Gary has auditioned and been a recipient of a scholarship from the Leni Fe Bland Foundation at the Santa Barbara Music Academy of the West. He is currently participating in the Honors Piano Seminar class at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. He has been a featured soloist with the Conejo Concerto Orchestra twice before, performing a Mozart Concerto.

In addition to playing the piano, Gary plays violin, studying with Dianne Rammon. His other interests include basketball and video games.

Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 50    Dimitri Kabalevsky (1904 - 1987)

    I. Allegro molto

Mr. Jonathan Gallo, 17, is a senior at Rio Mesa High School and has been playing the piano since age seven. He has participated in Bach Festivals, Fall Festivals, National Guild Auditions, and Certificate of Merit through Level 8 with honors. He is the Rio Mesa High School Jazz Band pianist and the Rio Mesa High School Concert Choir accompanist. Jonathan plays the tenors in the Rio Mesa High School Drumline and was Drum Captain of the 2004 American Drumline Association Scholastic A Champion group.

Jonathan is first chair French Horn in the Rio Mesa High School Concert Band. He also plays the guitar. Jonathan previously studied piano with Pat Brown Shullanberger of Camarillo and is currently studying with Danna Southwell of Thousand Oaks.

Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 22    Henryk Wieniawski (1835 - 1880)

    I. Allegro moderato

Mr. Joshua Hong has been studying piano and violin for eight years each, currently under the direction of Edward Francis and Joyce Osborn, respectively. He has won numerous awards for his musical performances. He has received two scholarships from the Leni FeBland Foundation in Santa Barbara for piano, and another in 2004 for violin. He has passed Level 10 with honors in the Music Teachers’ Association of California Certificate of Merit syllabus examinations for both instruments. He has been a winner in the Bach Festival and Contemporary Festival for many years. He performed the Grieg Piano Concerto as a soloist in 2004 with the Conejo Concerto Orchestra. He was a participant in the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival last summer, and was part of a string quartet. While attending another summer orchestra festival, he was asked to perform in a piano master class for the visiting guest artist. He also performed in a master class at Pepperdine University. Recently, his performance of the Wieniawski Violin Concerto won him top honors in the MTAC VOCE Competition, for voice/orchestra & chamber ensembles. His string quartet was also a first place winner. He will appear twice in performance at the state convention this summer in Sacramento. He will appear as pianist in the Ventura Music Festival’s Young Artist Recital in May.

Joshua is a member of the High School Honors Piano Seminar at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, and was also accepted as a first violinist in the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association High School Honors Orchestra. He is a freshman at Westlake High School where he is a member of the school orchestra. He has been a member of the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra for seven years and is currently co-concertmaster. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, playing video games, and chatting with friends online.

Cello Concerto, Op. 85    Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934)

    I. Adagio moderato

    II. Lento-Allegro molto

    IV. Allegro -- Moderato -- Allegro, ma non troppo

Mr. Andrew Janss, 20, is a Presidential Merit Scholar at the Manhattan School of Music where he is a student of David Geber. He also continues to work with his first cello teacher, Andrew Cook.

In his freshman year, Andrew was associate principal cellist of the school’s Philharmonia Orchestra (the MSM freshman and sophomore orchestra). This last fall, he ranked #1 in the cello department, and sat principal cellist of the school’s Symphony Orchestra.

As the representative of the Manhattan School of Music, Andrew was selected to play in a master class taught by Bernard Greenhouse for the Violoncello Society. He has also played in master classes taught by Sharon Robinson, Michael Tree, Andres Diaz, and Andres Cardenes. An avid chamber musician, Andrew has performed with members of the LA Philharmonic, LA Chamber Orchestra, and NY Philharmonic, and has coached with members of the Emerson, Guarneri, American, and Cleveland String Quartets.

Along with his piano trio and string quartet, Andrew has won the MSM’s Chamber Music Competition three times consecutively, and he is a participant in the MSM honor orchestra, the Claremont Ensemble, with which he recently performed as soloist.

In 2003 and 2004, Andrew participated in the Itzhak Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, and the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival. He has twice performed with the New West Symphony as a Discovery Artist and Discovery Artist Alumni, and he is a member of the Young Artists Guild of California. He performs with a number of orchestras in the New York City area and has presented two recitals in recent months featuring solo and ensemble selections. This is his third appearance with the Conejo Concerto Orchestra.

Andrew has recently found a love for cooking, and he enjoys supplementing his musical education with educational tapes on physics and economics.

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