"The Orchestra was terrific tonight," commented concertgoers as they exited the Scherr Forum Theatre at Saturday evening's season opener. Beginning with the exciting "Slavonic Dance #2" by Dvorak and concluding with the hauntingly beautiful strains of "The Moldau" by Smetana, everything went perfectly under the baton of Maestro James Domine.
In between, there was an outstanding display of virtuosity by three young musicians who were this year's winners of the Music Teachers' Association of California (West San Fernando Valley Branch) Competition. 15 year old violinist Timothy Le performed Wieniawski's "Scherzo Tarantelle;" 16 year old pianist Bruce Tui played the 1st movement of Chopin's "Piano Concerto#1 in E minor;" and 17 year old pianist Wesley Tui played the 2nd movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 in C minor. The audience responded with cheers and hearty applause. Ms. Anita Swearingen, Chairwoman of the MTAC Competition Committee, presented Maestro Domine with a donation to the SFVSO for providing Timothy, Bruce and Wesley with the opportunity to perform their winning pieces with the Orchestra.
The next composition, 12 year old Nathan Le's Symphony #1 in A minor (Crisis in Japan), left many in the audience awestruck that such a wonderful piece was the work of so young a boy. Applause rang out and, at the end of the concert, people hovered around him, offering congratulations and assuring him that he is destined to become a "big star." Nathan took all of this praise with great modesty (and was probably glad to go home where he could be out of the spotlight and return to just being a regular 12 year old kid).
It was a night of great music!