Season 59
2010-2011
Senior Orchestra Roster
Associate Orchestra Roster
Wind Prep Group Roster
String Prep Group Roster
Seniors
November 2010 Concert
Concert Program Overview
The California Youth Symphony launched its 59th season with a powerhouse "First Concert" series under the baton of Conductor Leo Eylar. The orchestra delivered two spectacular performances, taking the stage on November 14, 2010, at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center, followed by a performance on November 21, 2010, at Cupertino's Flint Center.
The program featured a brilliantly dramatic and rhythmically complex selection of masterworks. Opening the afternoon was Hector Berlioz's vibrant Roman Carnival Overture, a famous orchestral virtuoso piece featuring a festive percussion section and a fiery saltarello. This was followed by Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22, which pushed the bounds of technical wizardry. The first half concluded with Samuel Barber’s intense, continuously building tone poem, Medea's Dance of Vengeance. Following intermission, the dramatic currents grew even denser with Richard Strauss’s famous psychological interlude, "Dance of the Seven Veils" from Salome. The entire concert series culminated in a striking celebration of Latin-American rhythms via Alberto Ginastera’s four-movement suite, Dances from the Ballet, Estancia, leaving audiences thrilled by its high-energy, competitive Danza final: Malambo.
Featured Soloist: Ray Anthony Trujillo
The highlighted artist for the 59th season premiere was 15-year-old violin virtuoso Ray Anthony Trujillo. Ray stepped into the spotlight to tackle Wieniawski’s formidable Violin Concerto No. 2, gracefully executing its impassioned Allegro moderato, rhapsodic Romance, and a dazzling, gypsy-infused Rondo finale that demanding pure bravura pyrotechnics.
A student of William Barbini who began playing at the age of two, Ray arrived at CYS with an advanced musical pedigree. He served as the concertmaster of the Sacramento Youth Symphony and was a multi-year winner of their concerto competition, as well as a VOCE State Finalist. Having participated in elite master classes and performed as a soloist at the Bear Valley Music Festival, Ray balanced his intensive regional performance schedule—which included an upcoming solo appearance with the Sacramento Symphony—with helping run his family's music store in Elk Grove.
Media and Historical Milestone: 20 Years of Maestro Eylar
Local regional press and internal reflections focused heavily on a historic milestone celebrated during this concert series: Leo Eylar's 20th anniversary at the CYS helm. The program notes fondly recalled how Maestro Eylar had stepped onto the podium on short notice under difficult circumstances in November 1990 following the sudden illness of his predecessor, Dr. Lauren Jakey.
The Peninsula Times-Tribune had heralded that very first 1990 concert as an "inspirational triumph," setting the tone for two decades of explosive growth. Media coverage highlighted how Maestro Eylar had transformed the organization over 20 years—expanding CYS into eight distinct music programs involving over 450 young musicians from 100 Bay Area schools, founding the advanced-intermediate Associate Orchestra, and taking home a first-place prize from the International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna. Reflecting on the anniversary milestone, Maestro Eylar noted that enriching young lives through masterpieces had been the most musically rewarding experience of his career, a sentiment beautifully embodied by the orchestra's world-class execution during these November performances.
December 2010 Senior Orchestra and Associate Orchestra Holiday Concert
The holiday program uniquely paired the talents of the advanced-intermediate CYS Associate Orchestra and the premier California Youth Symphony Senior Orchestra, delivering a festive afternoon of music.
The concert opened with the Associate Orchestra presenting Franz von Suppé’s spirited Poet and Peasant Overture. They then delved into Edvard Grieg’s evocative Peer Gynt, Suite No. 2, moving listeners through Ingrid's Lament, the Arabian Dance, Peer Gynt's Homecoming, and the beautiful Solveig's Song. Shifting to high-energy rhythms, the Associate group also executed Aram Khachaturian’s Three Dances from the Gayneh Ballet, culminating in the wildly popular Sabre Dance. They concluded their portion of the program with Johann Strauss, Sr.’s historical Radetzky March and John Williams's cinematic Raiders March.
Following the intermission, the main California Youth Symphony Orchestra took the stage, opening with Michael Daugherty's highly expressive Raise the Roof. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated entirely to cherished holiday traditions, featuring Leroy Anderson’s whimsical Sleigh Ride, Irving Berlin’s nostalgic White Christmas, and an arrangement of Christmas Favorites. The program then highlighted selections from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's seasonal masterpiece The Nutcracker Suite, focusing on the grand Waltz of the Flowers, before bringing the entire celebratory event to a close with Leroy Anderson's brilliant medley, A Christmas Festival.
Featured Soloist: Artie Storch
The centerpiece of the symphony orchestra's performance was Michael Daugherty’s Raise the Roof, spotlighting CYS Percussion Director Artie Storch as the featured timpani soloist. A widely respected professional musician, Storch received his Bachelor of Science in music from Brooklyn College and his Master of Arts from The Juilliard School. In addition to leading the percussion program on the faculty at California State University, East Bay, he performs regularly with the San Francisco Symphony and the Oakland/East Bay Symphony.
Daugherty's piece, inspired by the engineering of great architectural wonders like the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Empire State Building, brought the timpani out from the back of the stage and directly into the foreground. Storch delivered a virtuosic performance, masterfully maneuvering through long expressive melodies, demanding special effects, and a tour de force solo cadenza to assemble what the composer termed a "grand acoustic construction".
String Prep Group Holiday Concert
Wind Prep Group Holiday Concert
March 2011 Senior Orchestra Concert
The California Youth Symphony advanced into the spring of its 59th season with a deeply intellectual and emotionally diverse program that stretched the stylistic boundaries of the ensemble. Led by Conductor and Music Director Leo Eylar, the orchestra delivered a towering performance on Sunday, March 20, 2011, before a capacity audience at the Flint Center in Cupertino.
March 2011 Concert Program Overview
The spring repertoire was meticulously structured to challenge the 100-plus member ensemble across three distinct symphonic eras, weaving together French sophistication, Russian romanticism, and profound mid-century introspection. The concert opened with Maurice Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, an eight-movement continuous miniature ballet score celebrated for its shimmering orchestral colors, refined sensibilities, and structural grace. This was followed by the cornerstone of the afternoon, Peter Illich Tchaikovsky's legendary Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23, a work famously known as one of the most exhilarating and technically punishing tests in the entire keyboard literature.
Following intermission, the program reached its climax with Dmitri Shostakovich's enigmatic Symphony No. 15, Op. 141. As Shostakovich’s final symphonic work, written in 1971, the piece demanded immense chamber-like clarity from the orchestra’s individual sections. The symphony is famous for its collage of musical quotes—including Rossini's William Tell Overture in the opening Allegretto and fragments of Wagner's Tristan motive in the finale—presenting a complex philosophical journey from childish innocence to life's final, peaceful resignation.
Featured Soloist: Rieko Tsuchida
The highlighted artist of the spring series was 16-year-old piano prodigy Rieko Tsuchida, a junior at Tamalpais High School who had been named the 2010 winner of the CYS Young Artist Competition. Tsuchida performed Tchaikovsky's monumental Piano Concerto No. 1, commanding its thunderous opening chords, delicate woodwind dialogues, and the fiery, rapid-fire Cossack dance of the finale with mature technical precision.
A scholarship student of John McCarthy in the Preparatory Division at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Tsuchida boasted an incredible competitive pedigree before her appearance with CYS. She had already claimed top honors at the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition—which led to a performance at Carnegie Hall—and won the grand prize at the 2008 KDFC Classical Star Search. Tsuchida was also heavily featured in the regional press as an avid chamber musician and the Principal Keyboardist for the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Her performance with CYS served as a direct precursor to her highly anticipated professional debut later that spring with the California Symphony.
Media and Historical Impact
Regional artistic circles highly praised this concert series for pairing a brilliant youth soloist with a repertoire rarely performed by non-professional ensembles. Local review summaries highlighted that under Maestro Eylar’s masterful and spirited direction, CYS had cemented its global standing as a premier incubator of elite musical talent. The press noted that navigating the sarcastic, grotesque humor of Shostakovich's final masterpiece alongside the sheer physical demands of Tchaikovsky proved that these "serious" Bay Area teenagers were operating at a world-class artistic standard. This performance remains a standout highlight of the 59th season, celebrating the convergence of rigorous academic discipline and virtuosic musical execution.
Associate Orchestra Winter Concert (March 2011)
May 2011 Senior Orchestra Concert
The California Youth Symphony brought its 59th season to a magnificent close in May 2011 with its "Third Concert" series, serving as a triumphant finale to a brilliant year of music-making. Under the spirited baton of Conductor and Music Director Leo Eylar, the orchestra delivered two stellar performances: first on May 8, 2011, at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center, and subsequently on Sunday, May 15, 2011, at Cupertino's Flint Center. The program featured a technically demanding and highly theatrical selection of masterworks that pushed the limits of the orchestra's symphonic colors. The concert opened with the mischievous energy of Paul Dukas’s programmatic masterpiece, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, followed by the heroic lyricism of Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 1. The second half opened with the rich, folk-infused textures of Zoltán Kodály's Háry János Suite and Antonín Dvořák’s romantic Violin Concerto, before culminating in a spectacular, grand finale performance of Peter Illich Tchaikovsky’s monumental 1812 Overture, bringing the 59th season to a thunderous and unforgettable conclusion.
Featured Soloists
In keeping with the long-standing CYS tradition of celebrating outstanding graduating seniors, the May 2011 finale series uniquely highlighted the virtuosic talents of two featured student soloists:
Reilly Tamer (Horn): Tamer stepped into the spotlight to tackle the technical demands of Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 1. Performing across its vibrant opening Allegro, deeply expressive Andante, and joyful Rondo finale, Tamer demonstrated a commanding technical precision and a warm, expansive tone that beautifully captured the romantic essence of this nineteenth-century wind masterpiece.
Darren Hau (Violin): Sharing the solo stage was violinist Darren Hau, who delivered an exceptional performance of the first movement (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo) from Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto. Hau commanded the movement’s intricate pyrotechnics and soaring melodic lines with mature artistic sensitivity, perfectly balancing the fiery Slavic rhythms with a deep, poetic expressiveness that stood as a definitive highlight of the evening.
Media and Regional Impact
Archival program records and regional cultural notices from May 2011 highly praised the main orchestra for executing a professional-grade program with world-class discipline. The press and local reviewers noted that navigating the dense orchestration of Kodály's suite alongside the pure physical and brass endurance required for Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture proved that these Bay Area teenagers were operating at an extraordinary artistic standard. With ticket prices remaining highly accessible to families across the Peninsula, the concerts drew large, enthusiastic crowds to both the San Mateo and Flint Center venues. This spectacular finale series served as a deeply moving send-off for graduating seniors like Tamer and Hau, while cementing the California Youth Symphony's legacy as a premier institution for elite youth music education.
