Season Finale - Senior Orchestra

Our season finale is an event you definitely don’t want to miss, as we proudly present two contemporary American classics: Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral and Nathaniel Stookey’s The Composer Is Dead. Blue Cathedral is one of Jennifer Higdon’s early and most celebrated works for orchestra, and was composed in 1989. The piece has since become a favorite in the American contemporary classical repertoire, appreciated for its evocative, meditative character and lyrical exploration of sound and emotion. Over the years, its expressive narrative has resonated with audiences and performers, contributing significantly to Higdon's reputation as a leading modern composer. The Composer is Dead was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in 2006 with text by Lemony Snicket and music by Nathaniel Stookey. The piece premiered on July 8, 2006, and was later released as a book with CD with illustrations by Carson Ellis. The story is a musical murder mystery about the killing of a composer. The plot takes place in an orchestra, and it is the inspector’s mission to interrogate the orchestra's instruments and uncover who killed the composer. We are delighted to welcome back to the CYS stage singer, actor, director, composer, and educator Omari Tau, who will narrate this entertaining and superbly written musical "who-dunnit."

We have three amazing senior soloist competition winners this season. David Wang, violin, will perform the first movement of Serge Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Prokofiev was on a concert tour with the French violinist Robert Soetens while he was working on the Second Violin Concerto: “The number of places in which I wrote the Concerto shows the kind of nomadic concert-tour life I led then. The main theme of the first movement was written in Paris, the first theme of the second movement in Voronezh, the orchestration was finished in Baku, and the premiere was given in Madrid.” This was on December 1, 1935. It was his last work before returning to Russia for good, after 17 years of self-imposed exile in the USA and Europe. Our Co-Principal cellist, Gabriel Irazabal, will be featured playing the gorgeous final movement of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor. Leah Galant, piano, will complete our trilogy of concertos with the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. This iconic masterpiece was completed in 1901. The genesis of this work goes back to the year 1897, which saw the disastrous world premiere of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1. As a result, Rachmaninov experienced a psychological breakdown and severe depression that halted his composition for three years. It was not until he began seeing the well-known neurologist Nikolai Dahl in January 1900 that he began to recover and compose once again. Rachmaninov dedicated the work to Dahl, and it has since become one of the most beloved and most frequently performed piano concertos in the entire repertoire. You will be transported by the artistry of these three exceptionally gifted student artists. Don’t miss this wonderful season-closing concert by our Senior Orchestra!

Leo Eylar, conductor
David Wang, violin
Gabriel Irazabal, cello
Leah Galant, piano

Higdon: Blue Cathedral
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no. 2, 1st mvt - David Wang, violin
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, 4th mvt - Gabriel Irazabal, cello
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor, 1st mvt - Leah Galant, piano
Stookey: The Composer is Dead - Omari Tau, narrator

Graduating Senior Concerto Competition Winners

David Wang, age 17, is a violinist from San Jose. He is currently studying under Pat Burnham. He has been playing for 12 years and has been a member of CYS for the past 6. He was also a winner of the CYS Associate Orchestra in 2019. Outside of CYS, David competes at various competitions, winning 2nd Place at the Silicon Valley Music Competition in 2023, 1st Place Regional Awards at VOCE in 2020, 2021, and 2023, and 1st Place at the US International Open Competition in 2024. He is also the first violinist in a student-organized string quartet at Los Gatos High School. Outside of violin, David enjoys learning and covering metal vocals, drawing, folding origami, and styling his long luscious hair.

Gabriel Irazabal, age 18, is a senior at Prospect High School in San Jose. He began playing the cello at 10 years old, and currently studies under Jonathan Koh, and previously studied under Adelle-Akiko Kearns. He is the current co-principal cellist in the California Youth Symphony Senior Orchestra, a cellist of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and was the former principal cellist of the San Jose Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2024, he won first place in the International Charleston competition and the California Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, and in 2022, won first place in the United States Open Music Competition with his piano trio from the Santa Clara Chamber Music & Young Musicians Academy. In the summer of 2024, Gabriel participated in the C’est Bon Music Academy and the Sphinx Performance Academy at Juilliard. He also participated in Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2 as the associate principal cellist, performing in Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center and Carnegie Hall. In addition, he was invited to perform and attend the Junior Bach Festival and Music@Menlo in 2024. Gabriel has had lessons and masterclasses with Zlatomir Fung, Natasha Brofsky, Sterling Elliott, Khari Joyner, and Tom Landschoot. Recently, Gabriel was selected to perform on NPR’s From The Top as a learning and media lab fellow. 

Leah Galant is an 18-year-old pianist and is a senior at Newark Memorial High School. She started learning piano at the age of 6 and studies with Olya Katsman. She has been a part of California Youth Symphony for 7 years, and originally auditioned with cello for junior strings. She continued to play cello until the Associate Orchestra. After playing cello for 5 years, her last two were spent in senior orchestra on the piano. Leah won 2nd place with the California Professional Music Teachers' Concerto Competition in 2021. She has participated annually in the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley. In 2019, she won 1st place in the Sturmpage Competition for the Performing Arts Society of Contra Costa County. In addition to piano, Leah participated in extracurricular activities such as police academy with the Newark and San Ramon Police Department. In her spare time, Leah loves to cook, swim, and explore around cities. 

Graduating Senior Concerto Competition

The CYS Senior Orchestra holds an annual Concerto Competition in December, offering its current graduating seniors an exciting opportunity to showcase their talent on our season finale concerts in May or June. All three winners will debut in this concert.