jade green, navy, red, black, baby blue. (orange, green, black, atl, and royal blue as bonuses)
2001-2006. five years of memories i'll never forget.
Fall
Handel - Overture to the Royal Fireworks
Grieg - Symphonic Dances
Prokofiev - Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet
Kid's Holiday
The Polar Express
Winter
Wagner - Overture to Rienzi (Alexander Mickelthwaite)
Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante (Elenita and Alex Link)
Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto, Mvt I (Alvin Lee)
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5
Family
The Music Maker
Spring
(with the ASYO Chorus and Norman Mackenzie)
Handel - Sinfonia from Messiah
Vivaldi - Gloria in excelsis from Gloria
Mozart - Ave, verum corpus
Brahms - How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place from A German Requiem
Beethoven - Hallelujah Chorus from Christ on the Mount of Olives
Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphosis
Borodin - Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
Side-by-Side Workshop with the ASO
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Mendelssohn - Overture for Winds
Brahms - Symphony No. 1
from the very beginning, knowing you was an accident of fate-i sort of fell into a relationship with you. our introduction was pretty brief, arranged by my sister, who'd known you for two years. i didn't know much about you, but on a whim, i decided that i wanted to. and you accepted me, barely even knowing who i was. and i fell in love with you.
my first year with you was pretty quiet. you introduced me to so many people i never would have known without you. i've re-met a few over the years, and i never fail to marvel at the fact that you made everything possible for me. a side-by-side workshop with the aso, shostakovich five. you even gave me the opportunity to sit next to a tall, scary korean guy i secretly named the green giant.
and the music. you gave me music, and saved my violin. without you, i wouldn't be playing today. you were patient with me. you taught me everything i needed to know.
Fall
Dukas - Fanfare from La Péri
Mussorgsky - A Night on the Bald Mountain
Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty
Dvořák - Symphony No. 6
Kid's Holiday
Second Chance Christmas
Winter
Larsen - Deep Summer Music
Creston - Two Choric Dances
Hovhaness - Symphony No. 2, "Mysterious Mountain"
Stravinsky - Suite from The Firebird (Donald Runnicles)
Chamber Orchestra
St. Paul's Suite
Family
The Listener
Spring
Bernstein - Overture to Candide
Chaminade - Flute Concertino (Andrea Brown)
Hindemith - Der Schwanendreher, I. "Twixt Mountain and Deep Valley" (Sarah Park, viola)
Williams - "Harry's Wondrous World," from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
i remember wondering if i would still be good enough after that first year, if i had somehow been exposed as the fraud i was. i was so afraid you'd abandon me. but you didn't. far from it, actually, and i entered my second year with higher spirits than ever. things were different, back then. it was possible to know everyone, and i did. including him. you'd brought him into my life the year before, but i hadn't really noticed him before. once i did, he stayed there like a ghost for three years. i won't pretend that i was always happy he was there, but i learned a lot from him. thank you for that.
that was also the year you introduced me to dale. he was very, very different from my last standpartner. he remains my most favorite one, too. we had fun, and he would also come to influence my life in major, major ways. but more on that later.
Fall
Berlioz - "Festivities at the Capulets,'" from Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev - "Romeo at Juliet's Grave," from Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy
Hanson - Symphony No. 2, "Romantic"
Kid's Holiday
The Snowman
Winter
Wagner - Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Copland - Lincoln Portrait
Sibelius - Symphony No. 1
Family
The Tempest
Spring
Beethoven - Overture No. 3 to Leonore
Saint-Saëns - Violin Concerto No. 3, Mvt. III (Ritchie Zah)
Gregson - Tuba Concerto, Mvt. I (James Land)
Creston - Marimba Concerto, Mvt. III (Donna Thompson)
Respighi - The Pines of Rome
The Atlanta-Berlin Youth Orchestra
(with the Landesjugendorchester Berlin)
Berlin
Weber - Overture to Euryanthe
Copland - The Tenderland
Katzer - Pentagramm
King Lear Variations
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5
Atlanta
Brahms - Academic Festival Overture
Katzer - Pentagramm
Liszt - Les Préludes
Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
our third year together was tough. by that time, my sister had severed ties with you, off to bigger and better things. we'd all drifted apart. my standpartner was sweet, but she was so obviously everything that i wasn't, and he knew it. i wasn't having fun with you anymore-every time i saw you i wondered whether it was still worth it. for awhile, i even thought about leaving you behind, after the fiasco that berlin was for me.
in the end, i realized that you were too important to me to just throw aside like that. so we stuck it out. and it proved to be the right decision.
30th Anniversary Season
Fall
Saint-Saëns - Marche héroïque
Arnold - Four Scottish Dances
Wagner - Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Holst - The Planets (Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter)
Kid's Holiday
The Polar Express
Winter
Barber - Essay No. 1
Sibelius - Violin Concerto, Mvt. III (Robert Lee)
Hüe - Fantaisie for Flute and Orchestra (Ridge Davis)
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Family
Saint-Saëns - Carnival of the Animals
Collective Soul - Home with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
Spring
Chadwick - Jubilee from Symphonic Sketches
Varèse - Ionisation
Dvořák - Finale from Symphony No. 8 (Robert Spano)
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (ASO and ASYO)
year four began with apprehension, on my part. despite the requisite drama, new friends helped to make that go away. an amazing standpartner made rehearsal fun again. and we did so many exciting things together. going to savannah and getting iced in. rocking symphony hall louder than a plane taking off on 1812 with the aso. and the highlight-collective soul. i'll never forget being on that stage and seeing the curtain go up to reveal a horde of rock fans screaming for us. thank you so much for that.
Fall
Dvořák - Carnival Overture
Debussy - Fêtes from Trois Nocturnes
Chopin - Polonaise
Saint-Saëns - Danse bacchanale from Samson et Dalila
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 2, "Little Russian"
Kid's Holiday
Second Chance Christmas
Family
The Journey of Sir Douglas Fir
Winter
Rimsky-Korsakov - Russian Easter Overture (Laura Jackson)
Sibelius - Violin Concerto, Mvt. I (Lee Sheehan)
Smetana - The Moldau, from Ma Vlást
Herbert - Cello Concerto No. 2, Mvt. I (Brian Sung)
Ravel - Bolero
Spring
Copland - Suite from Billy the Kid
Tower - Made in America
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (Donald Runnicles)
what is there to say about year five? popping an e string on national television, re-meeting collective soul. for the most part, you were a safe haven from the pressure of college and not being good enough. i had a standpartner i didn't quite deserve to sit with, but everyone knew the truth about it, anyway. giving out music was sometimes a pain, but it was something i halfway knew how to do, and was a welcome escape into monotony at time. and friends. always, always the friends. i met new people and rediscovered old friends, sometimes in a whole new light, this year.
so now, as our relationship together is drawing to a close, i'm sad and a little bit depressed that my time with you will be over by five o'clock tomorrow. i must admit that when i first walked on the stage at the hall, i thought five years with you would be a very, very long time. now i know that it's hardly enough and much too short. where did the time go?
i know you'll move on easily. there are so many that will replace me that you have to. just as i took someone else's place, many people will take mine.
i have been with you so long that the thought of that is a little odd. i will miss you, i will come back to visit, but it won't be the same. to everything, there is a season. every beginning has an end. my season (or seasons, rather, seeing as there were five of them) is over. what began in september of 2001 will end on may 7th, 2006.
tomorrow, as i walk onto and off the stage for the last time, the last concert, the last standing ovations, i'll be saying goodbye. from here on out, it's just a countdown to the inevitable parting we have to face. true, i'll be back to clean out the mess that is the music library, but it won't be the same. i won't be filling out that familiar application form, or anxiously pestering jun-ching about the excerpts. i won't be mentally predicting the roster-actually, i probably will be, but so many familiar names will be missing. there's a whole new generation, now. after next year, there won't be anyone left from good old 2001.
i might cry my eyes out, i might not. i don't know how i'll react tomorrow. but at that last reception, i know what i'll be toasting.
to the auditions. the results. the emails. the laughter. the heartbreak. the friends. the enemies. the people you sort of stalked. the people you sort of hated. the hot list. the asyo vs. aso softball games. getting squashed by the aso. the viola jokes. the secret santas. the nemo. santa. the robot. memorabilia. the missing sweatshirts. cds. dvds. bumper stickers. signature shirts. berlin. savannah. collective soul. the balls. the parties. the guest conductors. jere. rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. melanie. gwendolyn. darby. lori-gene. kevin. aso concerts. joshua bell. pinchas zukerman. hilary hahn. the carpools. the rehearsals. the breaks. the pizza. the subs. the sectionals. the section coaches. the concerts. and most of all, to the music.
thank you for everything.
ASYO class of 2006.
we'll be seeing you.
Fall
Handel - Overture to the Royal Fireworks
Grieg - Symphonic Dances
Prokofiev - Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet
Kid's Holiday
The Polar Express
Winter
Wagner - Overture to Rienzi (Alexander Mickelthwaite)
Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante (Elenita and Alex Link)
Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto, Mvt I (Alvin Lee)
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5
Family
The Music Maker
Spring
(with the ASYO Chorus and Norman Mackenzie)
Handel - Sinfonia from Messiah
Vivaldi - Gloria in excelsis from Gloria
Mozart - Ave, verum corpus
Brahms - How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place from A German Requiem
Beethoven - Hallelujah Chorus from Christ on the Mount of Olives
Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphosis
Borodin - Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
Side-by-Side Workshop with the ASO
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Mendelssohn - Overture for Winds
Brahms - Symphony No. 1
from the very beginning, knowing you was an accident of fate-i sort of fell into a relationship with you. our introduction was pretty brief, arranged by my sister, who'd known you for two years. i didn't know much about you, but on a whim, i decided that i wanted to. and you accepted me, barely even knowing who i was. and i fell in love with you.
my first year with you was pretty quiet. you introduced me to so many people i never would have known without you. i've re-met a few over the years, and i never fail to marvel at the fact that you made everything possible for me. a side-by-side workshop with the aso, shostakovich five. you even gave me the opportunity to sit next to a tall, scary korean guy i secretly named the green giant.
and the music. you gave me music, and saved my violin. without you, i wouldn't be playing today. you were patient with me. you taught me everything i needed to know.
Fall
Dukas - Fanfare from La Péri
Mussorgsky - A Night on the Bald Mountain
Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty
Dvořák - Symphony No. 6
Kid's Holiday
Second Chance Christmas
Winter
Larsen - Deep Summer Music
Creston - Two Choric Dances
Hovhaness - Symphony No. 2, "Mysterious Mountain"
Stravinsky - Suite from The Firebird (Donald Runnicles)
Chamber Orchestra
St. Paul's Suite
Family
The Listener
Spring
Bernstein - Overture to Candide
Chaminade - Flute Concertino (Andrea Brown)
Hindemith - Der Schwanendreher, I. "Twixt Mountain and Deep Valley" (Sarah Park, viola)
Williams - "Harry's Wondrous World," from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
i remember wondering if i would still be good enough after that first year, if i had somehow been exposed as the fraud i was. i was so afraid you'd abandon me. but you didn't. far from it, actually, and i entered my second year with higher spirits than ever. things were different, back then. it was possible to know everyone, and i did. including him. you'd brought him into my life the year before, but i hadn't really noticed him before. once i did, he stayed there like a ghost for three years. i won't pretend that i was always happy he was there, but i learned a lot from him. thank you for that.
that was also the year you introduced me to dale. he was very, very different from my last standpartner. he remains my most favorite one, too. we had fun, and he would also come to influence my life in major, major ways. but more on that later.
Fall
Berlioz - "Festivities at the Capulets,'" from Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev - "Romeo at Juliet's Grave," from Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy
Hanson - Symphony No. 2, "Romantic"
Kid's Holiday
The Snowman
Winter
Wagner - Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Copland - Lincoln Portrait
Sibelius - Symphony No. 1
Family
The Tempest
Spring
Beethoven - Overture No. 3 to Leonore
Saint-Saëns - Violin Concerto No. 3, Mvt. III (Ritchie Zah)
Gregson - Tuba Concerto, Mvt. I (James Land)
Creston - Marimba Concerto, Mvt. III (Donna Thompson)
Respighi - The Pines of Rome
The Atlanta-Berlin Youth Orchestra
(with the Landesjugendorchester Berlin)
Berlin
Weber - Overture to Euryanthe
Copland - The Tenderland
Katzer - Pentagramm
King Lear Variations
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5
Atlanta
Brahms - Academic Festival Overture
Katzer - Pentagramm
Liszt - Les Préludes
Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
our third year together was tough. by that time, my sister had severed ties with you, off to bigger and better things. we'd all drifted apart. my standpartner was sweet, but she was so obviously everything that i wasn't, and he knew it. i wasn't having fun with you anymore-every time i saw you i wondered whether it was still worth it. for awhile, i even thought about leaving you behind, after the fiasco that berlin was for me.
in the end, i realized that you were too important to me to just throw aside like that. so we stuck it out. and it proved to be the right decision.
30th Anniversary Season
Fall
Saint-Saëns - Marche héroïque
Arnold - Four Scottish Dances
Wagner - Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Holst - The Planets (Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter)
Kid's Holiday
The Polar Express
Winter
Barber - Essay No. 1
Sibelius - Violin Concerto, Mvt. III (Robert Lee)
Hüe - Fantaisie for Flute and Orchestra (Ridge Davis)
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Family
Saint-Saëns - Carnival of the Animals
Collective Soul - Home with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
Spring
Chadwick - Jubilee from Symphonic Sketches
Varèse - Ionisation
Dvořák - Finale from Symphony No. 8 (Robert Spano)
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (ASO and ASYO)
year four began with apprehension, on my part. despite the requisite drama, new friends helped to make that go away. an amazing standpartner made rehearsal fun again. and we did so many exciting things together. going to savannah and getting iced in. rocking symphony hall louder than a plane taking off on 1812 with the aso. and the highlight-collective soul. i'll never forget being on that stage and seeing the curtain go up to reveal a horde of rock fans screaming for us. thank you so much for that.
Fall
Dvořák - Carnival Overture
Debussy - Fêtes from Trois Nocturnes
Chopin - Polonaise
Saint-Saëns - Danse bacchanale from Samson et Dalila
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 2, "Little Russian"
Kid's Holiday
Second Chance Christmas
Family
The Journey of Sir Douglas Fir
Winter
Rimsky-Korsakov - Russian Easter Overture (Laura Jackson)
Sibelius - Violin Concerto, Mvt. I (Lee Sheehan)
Smetana - The Moldau, from Ma Vlást
Herbert - Cello Concerto No. 2, Mvt. I (Brian Sung)
Ravel - Bolero
Spring
Copland - Suite from Billy the Kid
Tower - Made in America
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (Donald Runnicles)
what is there to say about year five? popping an e string on national television, re-meeting collective soul. for the most part, you were a safe haven from the pressure of college and not being good enough. i had a standpartner i didn't quite deserve to sit with, but everyone knew the truth about it, anyway. giving out music was sometimes a pain, but it was something i halfway knew how to do, and was a welcome escape into monotony at time. and friends. always, always the friends. i met new people and rediscovered old friends, sometimes in a whole new light, this year.
so now, as our relationship together is drawing to a close, i'm sad and a little bit depressed that my time with you will be over by five o'clock tomorrow. i must admit that when i first walked on the stage at the hall, i thought five years with you would be a very, very long time. now i know that it's hardly enough and much too short. where did the time go?
i know you'll move on easily. there are so many that will replace me that you have to. just as i took someone else's place, many people will take mine.
i have been with you so long that the thought of that is a little odd. i will miss you, i will come back to visit, but it won't be the same. to everything, there is a season. every beginning has an end. my season (or seasons, rather, seeing as there were five of them) is over. what began in september of 2001 will end on may 7th, 2006.
tomorrow, as i walk onto and off the stage for the last time, the last concert, the last standing ovations, i'll be saying goodbye. from here on out, it's just a countdown to the inevitable parting we have to face. true, i'll be back to clean out the mess that is the music library, but it won't be the same. i won't be filling out that familiar application form, or anxiously pestering jun-ching about the excerpts. i won't be mentally predicting the roster-actually, i probably will be, but so many familiar names will be missing. there's a whole new generation, now. after next year, there won't be anyone left from good old 2001.
i might cry my eyes out, i might not. i don't know how i'll react tomorrow. but at that last reception, i know what i'll be toasting.
to the auditions. the results. the emails. the laughter. the heartbreak. the friends. the enemies. the people you sort of stalked. the people you sort of hated. the hot list. the asyo vs. aso softball games. getting squashed by the aso. the viola jokes. the secret santas. the nemo. santa. the robot. memorabilia. the missing sweatshirts. cds. dvds. bumper stickers. signature shirts. berlin. savannah. collective soul. the balls. the parties. the guest conductors. jere. rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. melanie. gwendolyn. darby. lori-gene. kevin. aso concerts. joshua bell. pinchas zukerman. hilary hahn. the carpools. the rehearsals. the breaks. the pizza. the subs. the sectionals. the section coaches. the concerts. and most of all, to the music.
thank you for everything.
ASYO class of 2006.
we'll be seeing you.