Season Opener Concerts
Join Maestro Eylar as he inaugurates the 66th season of the California Youth Symphony with a dazzling array of works on the season’s opening concert series. Joining the worldwide celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein, the orchestra opens the season with the ebullient and effervescent Overture to Candide, one of Bernstein’s most beloved concert gems. Our Young Artist Competition winner and Principal Cellist, Davis You, will perform the haunting and mysterious Cello Concerto No. 2 of Dmitri Shostakovich, composed shortly before the composer’s death, and the concert ends with Ottorino Respighi’s colossal and over-the-top Roman Festivals, the final installment of his “Roman Trilogy”, composed in 1928. This concert series is guaranteed to thrill and amaze you: don’t miss it!
Leo Eylar, conductor
Davis You, cello
Bernstein: Candide Overture
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2 (Davis You, soloist)
Respighi: Feste Romane
Prior to the performance, be sure to check out Maestro Eylar's interactive Ottorino Respighi webpage. Featuring program notes, commentary, photos, videos, questions and answers, and more clickable content, it’s the perfect way to prepare you for the performance. Click here for instant access!
Young Artist Competition Winner
Davis You, 15, is a sophomore at Palo Alto High School. He studies cello with Jonathan Koh and previously studied with Irene Sharp. His awards include first place in the 2016 California ASTA solo competition, first place in the 2017 California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition, and five invitations to perform in the Junior Bach Festival.
CYS Young Artist Competition
Each spring the California Youth Symphony holds its Young Artist Competition to select soloists for the following season. The Competition is open to pianists and instrumental soloists under age 19. Two young artists will be chosen by a panel of three judges to perform with the CYS Orchestra during the November or March concert series of the following season.
Application form becomes available in January!