17-YEAR-OLD VIOLINIST AARON GREENE WINS PYP’S 2018-19 SOLOIST COMPETITION
Posted on October 2, 2018
Portland, OR – Congratulations to Aaron Greene on winning Portland Youth Philharmonic’s 2018-19 Soloist Competition! The 17-year-old violinist will join PYP on stage at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to perform the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on Saturday, November 10, 2018. Aaron will also perform the piece on the orchestra’s October tour to Redmond, OR and Corvallis, as well as at PYP’s free performance and live stream on Monday, November 5th, from Pacific University’s Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center.
“Rehearsing for a solo is very different from rehearsing with the whole orchestra,” says Aaron, who is a senior at Union High School in Camas, WA. “In fact, I try to structure my solo practice similarly to PYP rehearsals. Tchaikovsky is notoriously difficult and the technical passages are very uncomfortable to play. I’ve been trying to take it day by day and practice efficiently to get through all 20 minutes of the piece.”
Soon to be the first U.S. organization of young musicians to reach its 100th anniversary, PYP will kick off its 95th season of concerts with a tour to central Oregon. PYP will present a free concert at Redmond’s Ridgeview High School at 7:00 PM on Saturday, October 27th. The next day, on Sunday, October 28th, the orchestra will perform in Oregon State University’s Austin Auditorium at The LaSells Stewart Center at 3:00 PM. Tickets to the Corvallis performance are $5 for all ages, and may be purchased at www.portlandyouthphil.org/corvallis or at the door.
The following week, the orchestra will perform a free concert on Monday, November 5th, in Pacific University’s Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center. The concert will be live streamed on PYP’s popular YouTube channel and include Aaron’s performance, as well as distinguished composer William Grant Still’s rarely-performed work The Far West, from the American Scene, and Dvořák’s expansive Symphony No. 6. Aaron and the orchestra will return home to Portland on Saturday, November 10th to officially launch the season in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets for the Schnitzer performance are available at www.portlandyouthphil.org/concerts.