The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra (CCOYO) will hold its opening concert of the 2023-24 season on Saturday, January 13, 2024, under the baton of Music Director, Kirsten Marshall.
This exciting concert opens with Chaminade’s Callirhoë Ballet Suite, Mascagni and Leoncavallo’s dramatic Intermezzos, and Grieg’s thrilling Concerto in A minor with pianist and concerto competition winner, Nathaniel Shuhan.
As a playful twist in this concert’s repertoire, winners from the Top Toy Tournament Fundraiser will also be featured in Haydn’s Toy Symphony. The afternoon will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s timeless Romeo & Juliet, promising a symphony of emotions.
Now in its seventh season, the CCO Youth Orchestra is embarking on its first overseas concert tour to Italy in April, 2024. Musicians will perform free concerts in major venues in Florence and Venice, including a side-by-side concert with an Italian youth orchestra. In addition to performing, students will visit museums and historic sites, study drawing, and attend an operatic performance.
To raise funds for the trip, the CCOYO have been hosting fundraisers throughout the fall semester, including a chamber concert, coffee fundraiser, leak raking fundraiser, and more. Among these efforts is the , where the most donated nominee winners will perform one of the seven, coveted solo parts in Haydn’s Toy Symphony.
The mission of the CCO Youth Orchestra is to offer a high-quality symphony orchestra experience for youth in Ithaca and the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Now in its seventh successful season, we are thrilled to have a robust student membership of 67 players from all around Tompkins County. Our season typically includes two full-length symphonic concerts plus two run-out concerts to rural schools.
We will also be touring Italy in the Spring for our first overseas trip! Part of our mission is to bring our music to surrounding communities that might not otherwise experience live classical music and to educate and engage our students in being ambassadors of music. CCOYO students have experienced a side-by-side performance with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra as well as individual sectional coaching with CCO members.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra’s Winter Concert be held on Saturday, January 13 at 4:00pm at Ford Hall, Ithaca College. This concert has free admission and donations are gratefully accepted.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra recently held auditions for section string positions and have announced seven winners, now members of the orchestra.
Distinguished by the designation of the “Official Orchestra of the City of Ithaca,” Cayuga Chamber Orchestra has been presenting exceptional live classical music to the region since 1976. The Orchestra was founded by Charles McCary when a group of local professional musicians debuted as the Finger Lakes Orchestra.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra has a strong commitment to serving its community in a variety of ways. Through its professional excellence, vibrant performances, community education, and passion for transformation through music, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra is devoted to fostering artistic life in the Ithaca and Finger Lakes regions of New York State.
Wan-Chun Hu – violin – Bloomsfield, New Jersey
Originally from Taiwan, Wan-Chun Hu is a classically trained musician and music teacher. In 2020, Wan-Chun won the second prize at the American Protege International Competition and was chosen to perform in Carnegie Hall. Additionally, Wan-Chun has won several orchestra positions, including first violin with the Annapolis Symphony, second violin with the Binghamton Philharmonic, and substitute violin with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Allentown Symphony.
William Knuth – violin – Liverpool
William Knuth, violinist and Fulbright Scholar, has earned recognition for his artistry as a solo and chamber musician. He is Assistant Professor of Violin and string department coordinator at the Syracuse University Setnor School of Music with a private teaching studio in Syracuse, NY. As a member of Duo Sonidos with guitarist Adam Levin, Knuth has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, and South America.
Asher Wulfman – violin – Ithaca
Asher Wulfman, violinist, is a performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral works for violin currently based in Ithaca NY. He is a member of Symphoria and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and performs regularly with Opera Ithaca and Cornell University’s Ensemble X. He is also a guest lecturer at Cornell University, and is on the faculty of Opus Ithaca School of Music, where he also coordinates and coaches chamber music.
Bryce Bunner – viola – Penfield
Bryce Bunner, violist currently serves as principal violist of the Erie Philharmonic, and performs as an extra musician with the Rochester Philharmonic & Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras. He also performs in the DC area with the Post Classical Ensemble, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, and the Washington Concert Opera. He spent 21 years as a violist with the Air Force Strings/USAF Band in Washington, D.C., and taught and coached the DC Youth Orchestra program for many years.
Peter Dudek – viola – New York City
Peter Dudek, Violist, completed his Bachelor’s degree in The Juilliard School, where currently he is pursuing his Master’s degree under the tutelage of Molly Carr. He is an alumn of Itzhak Perlman’s Perlman Music Program as well as Pinchas Zukerman’s Young Artists Program. Peter is under agreement to perform for the final time as a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland this upcoming summer.
Grace Ho – cello – New York City
Taiwanese-American cellist Grace Ho, praised by South Florida Classical Review “…the warmth and flexibility of Grace Ho’s cello solos were standouts”, is an active soloist and chamber musician in the United States and Asia. Ms. Ho has appeared as soloist with the Vienna Ensemble, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Ho Chi Minh City Symphony Orchestra, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, and many more.
Zachary Sweet – cello – Ithaca
Zachary Sweet, Cellist, is a registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. He is currently an instructor of cello at Nazareth College, Binghamton University, and on the faculties of Ithaca Talent Education and Music Together of Ithaca. Nationally, he is in demand as a clinician having lead workshops, masterclasses and institutes across the United States and Canada.
Auditions were held behind a screen and were evaluated by a panel of our musicians and Interim Music Director, Grant Cooper. Look for these new musicians onstage in the coming months.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra will hold its second Orchestral Series Concert of the 2023-24 season at Ithaca College this October. Called “Beethoven’s Eighth,” the program is led by Music Director Finalist Guillaume Pirard and features Cellist Guy Johnston.
The CCO was founded in 1976 and is officially designated “Ithaca’s Orchestra.” Each season for the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra includes an Orchestral Series, Chamber Music Series, a Holiday concert, free Family Concerts, and the long-standing Willard Daetsch Youth Outreach Program, which earned the 2015 Yale Distinguished Music Educator award. In 2017, the CCO added a Youth Orchestra, which offers a high quality symphony orchestra experience for youth in Ithaca and the Finger Lakes region of New York State.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s concert will open with Arvo Pärt’s meditative In Spe, followed by Shostakovich’s haunting Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, and the evening will be closed with Beethoven’s jubilant Symphony No. 8. There is also a free Pre-concert chat with the conductor and soloist at 6:30 pm.
With a deep belief in the power of collaborative music making to create transformational experiences for musicians and audiences alike, Guillaume Pirard has become a highly respected artist and educator of his generation. Since making his debut with the Orlando Philharmonic, Pirard has conducted the New York University and Cornell University Orchestras, Ensemble X, Opus Ithaca, the Philharmonic of Moravia, the Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra, the Lviv Philharmonic, the Mannes School of Music Opera and the Mannes Orchestra, and served as Assistant Conductor for the Buffalo Philharmonic and Ensemble 21.
As co-concertmaster and founding member of The Knights, Pirard toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe with performances at the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Muziverein in Vienna, and major festival appearances at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, Skaneateles, the Festival-de-Paques in Aix-en-Provence and the Salzburg Festpiele. Pirard is serving as Visiting Professor of Violin at Ithaca College for the 2023-24 academic year.
Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award. He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Moscow Philharmonic and St Petersburg Symphony.
The concert will take place Saturday, October 21 at 7:30pm in Ford Hall at Ithaca College.
For more information and “late edition” subscriptions or single tickets, visit CCOithaca.org.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra has announced its 2023-2024 season titled Beethoven and Beyond, featuring the four finalists in the search for the next Music Director.
Music Director Finalists.
Each finalist will conduct a concert on the CCO’s Orchestral Series during the coming season, including a Beethoven Symphony, a concerto, and a “conductor’s choice.” Candidates include Jeffery Meyer, Guillaume Pirard, Michelle Di Russo, and Octavio Más-Arocas. Meyer recently joined the Orchestral Conducting faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and serves as Artistic Partner with the Northwest Sinfonietta in Tacoma, Washington. Di Russo is currently the Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony.
Pirard was a founding member and Co-concertmaster of the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra, The Knights, and will serve as Visiting Professor of Violin at Ithaca College for the coming academic year. Más-Arocas directs the Michigan State University orchestras, the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra in Ohio, the Marquette Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, and the Clinton Symphony in New York. All four conductors have ties to Ithaca through their work.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1976 and is officially designated “Ithaca’s Orchestra.” Each season includes an Orchestral Series, Chamber Music Series, Holiday concerts, free Family Concerts, and the long-standing Willard Daetsch Youth Outreach Program, which earned the 2015 Yale Distinguished Music Educator award. In 2017, the CCO added a Youth Orchestra program for advanced students, and in 2019, a new Diversity Career Fellowship program was established to provide opportunities for college students from communities that have been historically underrepresented in classical music.
The 2023-2024 season will also include the popular Chamber Series and a performance of Händel’s Messiah. Concertgoers will be treated to a final concert, Passing the Baton: The Four Seasons, featuring Concertmaster Christina Neubauer as soloist. Interim Music Director Grant Cooper will make his final appearance on the podium as Interim and the next Music Director will be announced at that concert. A special reception is planned immediately following the concert.
Ithaca’s Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s2022-2023 Season Chamber Series concludes on May 28 at First Unitarian Church, with Iberian Enchantment and a program featuring musicians from the orchestra and friends.
The season’s final program will feature the Turnia Piano Trio No. 1, The Saraste Navarra and the Louise Farrenc Nonet. Ten talented musicians will perform the pieces, combining winds, strings, and piano. They will play a sparkling Turina, a quick Saraste, and the riveting Farrenc, transporting the audience with their combined musical talent.
Organizers will unveil an exciting 2023-24 season in June, as the 2022-23 season draws to a close. Furthermore, the orchestra will present its four finalists for the next Music Director and its lineup of soloists.
The CCO, officially known as “Ithaca’s Orchestra,” founded in 1976 The CCO’s annual program comprises an Orchestral Series, Chamber Music Series, a Holiday concert, free Family Concerts, and the William Daestch Youth Outreach Program, recipient of the 2015 Yale Distinguished Music Educator award. Additionally, in 2017, the CCO added a program for advanced students, the Youth Orchestra Program. In 2019, the CCO launched a Diversity Career Fellowship program for college students from underrepresented communities in classical music.
Tickets can be purchased online, by phone, or at the door. Tickets cost $38.50 for adults and $12 for students with ID.
For more information about the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and tickets, visit their website here, or contact the CCO at (607)-273-8981 or info@CCOithaca.org.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra will continue its Orchestral Series on Saturday, March 11, featuring renowned concert artist Paul Neubauer with CCO Concertmaster Christina Bouey. The concert will begin with Stravinsky’s Danses Concertantes, followed by selections from Romani Folk Songs, and ending with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.
The CCO was founded in 1976 and is officially designated “Ithaca’s Orchestra.” CCO provides various programs in each season including but not limited with Orchestral Series, Chamber Music Series, and Holiday concerts. They also hold the award winning program Daetsch Youth Outreach Program, which earned the 2015 Yale Distinguished Music Educator award. In the following years, they add more programs to provide opportunities for advanced students and college students.
Paul Neubauer is a globally award-winning soloist and recording artist. He performed with over 100 orchestras worldwide and won numerous awards, including first prize in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. Neaubauer was the principal violist of the New York Philharmonic when he was 21 and is currently a faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College in New York City.
Christina Bouey is currently Concertmaster of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and Assistant Professor of Violin at Ithaca College. She has won the Grand Prize at the Vietnam International Chamber Competition and the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Competition. In addition, her ensemble, the Ulysses Quartet, were Lisa Arnhold Fellows at the Juilliard School.
Tickets may be purchased online, by phone or at the door. Select subscriptions are still available. For more information, please visit CCO website.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra has announced the launch of its Chamber Series on Sunday, Feb. 26, as part of their 47th season.
The Featured Performers
The performance will include pieces by Beethoven and Brahms, a program featuring Concertmaster Christina Bouey, Principal Cellist Rosemary Elliott, violinist Anthony Bracewell and guest artist, pianist Vadim Serebryany. The program will feature Beethoven’s lush and lyrically expansive String Trio in E-flat and Brahms’ majestic and emotionally turbulent Piano Quartet No. 3.
It is a privilege to be preparing the Brahms Piano Quartet for a performance with beloved colleagues and friends, Tina, Anthony and Vadim. The slow movement is a true gem. From the dark, brooding landscape of c minor Brahms transports us to e major and a world of serenity and beauty. As I prepare to perform this miraculous movement (which starts with a cello solo!) I am reminded of all that is good in life, even amidst the suffering of so many in the world.
Principal Cellist Rosemary Elliott
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s mission lies in its professional excellence, vibrant performances, community education, and passion for transformation through music. The Orchestra is devoted to fostering artistic life in the Ithaca and Finger Lakes regions of New York State.
The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra has a strong commitment to serving its community in a variety of ways. An annual Family Series of concerts (all free admission) was added in 2013. In 2015, the CCO received the national honor of a Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award for the comprehensive school program that reaches over 800 elementary students each year. In 2017, the CCO added a Youth Orchestra program for advanced student musicians that currently has 57 members. In 2019, the first Diversity Fellowships were established to create opportunities for college music majors from underrepresented minority communities. Through partnerships with Longview and Kendal, CCO musicians enjoy regular opportunities to perform for and interact with the senior communities in the Ithaca region.
Tickets may be purchased by phone, at the door, or at the orchestra’s website
