2019 IVSO Young Performers Competition winners to perform March 10

Staff
Posted 3/4/19

LA SALLE - The Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Sergey Bogza will present Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 10 at LaSalle-Peru High School Matthiessen Auditorium.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

2019 IVSO Young Performers Competition winners to perform March 10

Posted

LA SALLE - The Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Sergey Bogza will present Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 10 at LaSalle-Peru High School Matthiessen Auditorium. A preconcert talk by Bogza will begin at 2:15 p.m.

The concert will feature winners of the 2019 IVSO Young Performers Competition. Faustina Bystry will play the first movement of Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in G Minor, No. 1, and Abigail Meyers will perform the third movement of Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in C Major by Kabalevsky. The program will also include Bogza’s own arrangement of Waltz No. 2 from the Suite for Variety Orchestra by Shostakovich and works by Johann Strauss Jr. and Offenbach.

Senior Division winner Abigail Meyers of Minonk, 18, is an avid violinist, and is home educated. She has been playing violin since January 2010. Past instructors include Emily Sobaki, Aki Tanaka, and Constance Deal. She is currently studying with Jane Hoffmire. Abigail has played with the Illinois Valley Youth Symphony for six years serving as Concertmaster since the fall 2015 season under the direction of John Armstrong and Alex Wang. She has also played with the Youth Music Illinois Youth Symphony for the last two years and this year serves as Assistant Principle Second under the direction of David Commanday. Abigail has played for weddings, special occasions, fundraisers, and festivals. She is active in Trinity Lutheran Church Youth Choir and Chimes Choir in El Paso and enjoys drawing, composing and listening to music, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She is the daughter of Paul and Jacqleene Meyers of Minonk.

Junior Division winner Faustina Bystry of Princeton, a homeschooled student, began violin instruction with Katie Roy and now studies under Ann Montzka-Smelser at the Northern Illinois University Community School for the Arts. Faustina has studied violin for six years. She is currently a member of the NIU Symphonette under the direction of Linc Smelser. She received the Spinoso Family Scholarship, enabling her to attend the American Suzuki Institute to study under acclaimed teacher trainer Alice Joy Lewis. She has also studied in master class with Dr. Scott Conklin from the University of Iowa and Kathy Rollings of Columbia, Mo. She has been a guest violinist at the annual Women of Distinction dinner every year and frequently plays for churches, weddings, and other community events. Faustina also enjoys softball, dance, voice, and sketching. She is the daughter of Jeff and Rachel Bystry of Princeton.

Guest Conductor Sergey Bogza is conductor of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra and a faculty member at Millikin University. He is winner of the 2016 International Conductors Workshop and Competition and has been selected as Music Director finalist with Symphonicity (Symphony Orchestra of Virginia Beach). He has guest conducted Gwinnett Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Previous posts include artistic director of Mesabi Symphony Orchestra, Willmar Area Symphonic Orchestra, Heartland Symphony Orchestra, Hyperion Singers, assistant conductor at the University of Minnesota and Central Washington University, and Conductor for Music in World Cultures. Bogza has conducted The Berlin Sinfonietta, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music orchestras and was selected to conduct Discovery Series Concerts at the Oregon Bach Festival.

He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from Central Washington University, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Portland State University. In 2014, Bogza conducted the workshop premieres of two American operas, “Sister Carrie” and “Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.” He is also an internationally performed composer, whose compositions and arrangements have been performed across the U.S. and featured at the New Music Festival in Kazan, Russia.

Concert admission is by season membership or individual ticket, available online at www.ivso.org or at the door. Students K-12 are admitted free; and college students with ID are $5. Concert sponsors are the Miller Group Charitable Trust and Maze Lumber. Season sponsors are Ottawa Radio and Regional Media. The auditorium is accessible.