Opus 9
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CWOTO Opus 9

Tickets: click here to contact Edward Francis for advance tickets

    $15 general / $10 senior & student

Performers and Their Pieces

Overture: Merry Wives of Windsor    Otto Nikolai (1810 - 1849)

Conejo Concerto Orchestra, Thomas Osborn conducting

Piano Concerto in D Major, K. 175    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

     Allegro

Mr. Vinson Luo,  8, just finished his second grade at Lang Ranch Elementary School in Thousand Oaks. He began piano studies when he was 5 years old with Kyung Lee. He has been studying with Edward Francis for the past year.

He performed as a piano soloist in kindergarten when he was five years old. In 2003, he performed at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza as a gold medal winner in the Fall Festival sponsored by MTAC. He has also received Branch and Regional Awards in the Southern California Jr. Bach Festival and appeared in its Showcase recital at Santa Barbara.

In addition to piano, Vinson also studies violin with Dianna Ray-Goodman.

Vinson has been an excellent student. Besides music, he loves reading, skiing, and, of course, playing video games. He also practices karate and passed his Black Belt test with a “Black Belt Excellence Award” in 2003.

Piano Concerto #2 in c-minor, Op. 18    Sergei Rachmaninoff (1879 - 1943)

    Moderato, Adagio sostenuto, Allegro scherzando

Mr. Alex Wasserman, a native of Oak Park , grew up in a musical family and began formal piano studies with Suzanne Julian at the age of 14.

Alex has been the recipient of many awards, scholarships, and honors, including Moorpark College ’s Outstanding Pianist Award and the USC Friends of Armenia scholarship. He was also chosen as a recipient of the Leni Fe Bland scholarship for five consecutive years. Alex holds a Bachelors of Music degree cum laude  in piano performance from the University of Southern California , where his principal instructor was Antoinette Perry. Following his graduation from USC, Alex began  the Masters program in piano performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was accepted as a scholarship student under the instruction of Dr. Daniel Shapiro. This fall, Alex will begin his second year of the Masters program in Cleveland . 

Alex has attended music festivals, including Idyllwild, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Orford Arts Center in Quebec , Canada . He has participated in master classes with Henri Brassard, Richard Raymond, and Uriel Tsachor, as well as lessons with Paul Schenly, Edward Francis , and Dianne Ketchie. As a recitalist, Alex has performed in both the United States and in Canada . He is also active as a chamber musician, and has been heard on Los Angeles ’s classical music station, 91.5KUSC.

This will mark Alex’s second appearance with the Conejo Concerto Orchestra; in the summer of 2002, he was the featured soloist in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major.

Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op. 22    Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849)

Mr. Vlad Vizireanu, a graduate of Westlake High School, just completed his first year of study at UCLA, where he is a piano performance major. He is a scholarship student of Walter Ponce, the chair of the keyboard division.

His first teachers were Angela Hsu & Raya Sadigursky, both of Westlake Village. When he was a freshman in high school, he began studies with Edward Francis. He participated in a broad variety of performance and competitive activities during high school. He was a winner in the Southern California Jr. Bach Festival, the Contemporary and Romantic Festivals, and the Certificate of Merit Syllabus Examinations. He has performed at various venues, including the Gold Medal Awards Recital at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, the Panel Honors Recital at the Mission Inn in Riverside, the Music Teachers' Assn. of California annual convention, the Modern Arts Museum in Costanta, Romania, and the Conejo Concerto Orchestra in its OPUS 2 & OPUS 4 concerts. He was the top scholarship winner in the Bernice Bernard Auditions during his senior year in high school. He participated in the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival during the summer of 2003 and was a pianist in a trio which played at two of the culminating recitals, one of which was televised on a local channel. He played percussion in the high school band, and enjoyed a serious study of karate and Tae Kwon Do, in which he earned his black belt.

He has an interest in acting, dance and, of course, the martial arts. He also enjoys traveling.

Piano Concerto #3 in C-Major, Op. 26    Serge Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)

    Andante - Allegro, Tema 3 Variazioni, Allegro ma non troppo

Mr. Sean Chen, 15, is an honor student at Oak Park High School. He has studied the piano for ten years. He has earned many awards for his performances, including the 2^nd prize at the Los Angeles Philharmonic 2004 Bronislaw Kaper Competition, Grand Prize winner at the 2004 Glendale Piano Competition, and the 1^st Prize at the 2003 University of Pacific Piano Competition for California high school pianists in Stockton. In 2002, he won first place in his category in the 2002 California Assn. of Professional Music Teachers Sonata Competition and was also the Los Angeles representative in the CAPMT annual Conference Honors Auditions in San Diego that year. Sean has been invited to compete in the 2004 Oberlin International Piano Competition and the 2005 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition. Sean was invited by the city of Thousand Oaks to perform at the 2002 “Encore Award for Excellence in the Arts” Gala, which was televised. Sean is a New West Symphony Discovery Artist. He has played for many distinguished artists including Arnaldo Cohen of London’s Royal Academy of Music, John Perry of USC, Jerome Lowenthal of the Juilliard School, Gary Graffman of the Curtis Institute of Music, and Andras Schiff, International recording artist. His current and principal teacher is Edward Francis.

The Chopin Foundation of the United States has awarded scholarships to Sean in 2003 and 2004. Sean has been invited regularly to participate in the highly selective Leni Fe Bland Foundation auditions at the Santa Barbara Music Academy of the West. He has been a scholarship recipient for many years. He has been a two-year participant in the High School Honors Piano Performance Seminar at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

His experience in chamber music has been enjoyable, and he has been a member of two trios coached by Joyce Osborn. The first, with violinist Raymond Tong and cellist Andrew Janss won first place in the state MTAC VOCE (Vocal, Orchestra, & Chamber Ensembles) 2000 competition, sponsored by the Music Teachers' Assn. of California. In 2003, his trio with Raymond and cellist Arthur Han again won first place in the state VOCE competition. The trio was also selected to perform at the International Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival in Palos Verdes, and the Ventura Chamber Music Festival.

He has been fortunate to perform with orchestra frequently. At age 9, he performed with the New West Symphony in Beethoven's Concerto #2, and, at age 10, with the Conejo Youth Symphony, in a Mozart Concerto as winner of their Young Pianist Award. As a New West Symphony Discovery Artist for 2001, he performed with the orchestra in two performances of the Ravel Concerto in G Major. He was the featured soloist with the Ventura College Community Orchestra in its May, 2003 concert. . Sean’s Opus 9 performance marks his third appearance with the CCO. He was also a featured soloist in Opus 4 (Chopin E minor) and Opus 6 (Rachmaninoff Third). His Opus 4 performance was sponsored by the Music Teachers’ Association of California, Conejo Valley Branch.

Sean’s favorite sport is tennis. He plays computer video games. His hobbies include computer graphic design and music composition. Sean also plays violin and is a member of the Conejo Youth Orchestra.

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