SYMPHONY CONCERT FEATURES YOUNG TALENTS
BCLocalNews
January 25, 2010 2:04 PM
Aisa Sayama performs at two concerts with the Fraser Valley Symphony
this weekend.
Young up-and-coming soloists from the Fraser Valley are featured this
month when the Fraser Valley Symphony presents The Magical Moldau
and More in two local concerts..
Featured as soloists are the winners of the 2010 Fraser Valley Symphony
Concerto Competition – young, local, up-and-coming talent from here
in the Fraser Valley.
This year’s winners are pianist Aisa Sayama of Langley’s Brookswood
Secondary, soprano Tamar Simon of Langley Fine Arts School and
violinist Hanna Williamson of Mission.
The audition process was completed in October 2009 with the winners
selected from a competitive field.
Sayama will perform the Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor – Finale,
composed by Camille Saint-Saens. Sayama was born in Japan in 1994,
and started playing piano at the age of five. She won the Okinawa
Piano Competition in Japan in 2001, and in 2003 moved to Canada.
She has won several competitions including the Coquitlam District Music
Festival, Kiwanis Fraser Valley Festival, Kiwanis Vancouver Festival,
Chilliwack Music and Dance Festival, as well as the Langley Community
Music School Competition.
In 2009, she got first place in the junior category of the British
Columbia Provincial Performing Arts Festival in June, and also
was selected by Tom Lee Music to attend Lang Lang’s master class
in November.
She also loves playing chamber music. Her ensemble went to the Banff
Centre for a performance in 2008 and is currently practicing for a
concert to take place this coming March. She has studied with Hiroko
Okamoto, Hiromi Yoza, Kathy Bjorseth, and Leslie Janos. She currently
studies piano with Keiko Alexander.
Simon will sing Let the Bright Seraphim, from the oratorio Samson,
composed by Georg Frederic Handel. Simon, a soprano, is a Canadian
Armenian. She currently attends Langley Fine Arts School as a Writing
Major. She has been studying singing with Alison Nystrom since age 10.
She was the junior and intermediate winner (voice) at the BC Festival
of the Arts and was honoured to sing as a soloist for the sing along
Handel’s Messiah at the Orpheum (musical director Bruce Pullan)
for the past two years.
She is a member of the children’s UBC opera ensemble under the
direction of Nancy Hermiston. She has been invited to sing at the 100th
year anniversary commemorating Komidas, a celebrated Armenian composer,
on Feb. 5 at St. Gregory Church. She currently completing her grade
10 voice levels with the Royal Conservatory and also studying piano
and theory.
Williamson will perform the Violin Concerto in C Major, composed
by Dmitri Kabalevsky. Williamson is in Grade 10 school, and studies
violin with Dr. Calvin Dyck and piano with Dr. Betty Suderman.
She enjoys performing and has won many awards, including the highest
mark in senior strings at the 2009 Abbotsford Strings Festival and
the senior strings student showing most promise at the Chilliwack
Lions Club Dance and Music Festival. Currently, Hanna is concert
master of the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra.
The concert program includes Auber – Masaniello Overture (La Muette
de Portici), Smetana – The Moldau, Handel – "Let the Bright Seraphim"
from Samson, Smetana – From Bohemia’s Forests and Meadows, Saint-Saens
– Piano Concerto – mvt. 3, and Kabalevsky – Violin Concerto, mvt 1.
Rehearsals are underway for the two concerts, to be held on Saturday,
January 30, 7:30 p.m. at Chief Seapass Theatre in Fort Langley
and Sunday, January 31, 3 p.m. at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium
in Abbotsford.
Tickets (adults $15, seniors $12, children $6) are available at the
Wired Monk in Murrayville and at Wendel’s Books and Cafe in Fort
Langley, and will also be available at the door. Concerts tend to
sell out, so purchase early.