Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra To Perform Sunday In Wilton

**News Release Submitted by The Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra**

Feb. 27, 2023

The Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra will present its 2023 Winter Concert this coming Sunday, March 5th at the David F. Clune Auditorium of Wilton High School in Wilton, CT. The concert will feature the WCYO Wind Ensemble, String Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and soloist, Francesca Rossi of Ridgefield, CT, Winner of the 2023 WCYO Concerto Competition.

The Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of WCYO Music Director and Conductor Eric Mahl, will present Colonial Dances by Florence Price, and “An American Suite” compiled by Maestro Mahl featuring Jubilee from Symphonic Sketches by George W. Chadwick, The White Peacock by Charles T. Griffes, Hoe Down from Rodeo by Aaron Copeland and Night in the Tropics from Symphony No. 1 by Louis M. Gotschalk. A highlight of their repertoire will feature cellist Francesca Rossi performing as soloist for the fourth movement of Edward Elgar’s Concerto in E minor.

Miss Rossi is the winner of the WCYO 2023 Concerto Competition. She has been a member of the WCYO for three years, and is principal cellist of the WCYO Symphony Orchestra. She began playing the cello at four years old. After moving to the United States from Italy in fifth grade and continuing cello in school, she began taking private lessons. Her private music teacher is Dr. Chungsun Kim of Wilton, CT. Ms. Rossi is a senior at Ridgefield High School where she is a student of music educator Michael McNamara and the principal cellist of the Symphonic and Chamber Orchestras. She has performed in the CMEA Western Regionals orchestra all four years of high school and as its principal this year and the All-State orchestra in her sophomore and junior years. For the past two years Miss Rossi has performed in the Charles Ives Music Festival(CIMF) at the WCYO winter/spring Chamber Music Intensive and is currently in rehearsal for a chamber concert scheduled on April 24th. WCYO’s winter concert will showcase a wide variety of classical and contemporary musical works. The Wind Ensemble will open the concert with a jazz classic, Hay Burner, by Sammy Nestico, followed by First Suite in Eb by Gustav Holst. The String Orchestra, conducted by Joanna Giordano, will perform Freedom Rhapsody by James Curnow, Phantom Waltz by Christ Thomas, and Movement I of Symphony No. 25 by Wolfgang A. Mozart. Learn more about this music by clicking here to review our Conductor Notes!

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students and seniors and may be purchased at the door via cash, check, or Venmo.

Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra is 501C non-profit based in Ridgefield, CT serving area youth musicians from more than 20 towns in the surrounding Connecticut and New York communities with advanced performance and music education programs. To learn more about the WCYO or to schedule an audition, please visit wctyo.org or call 203-894-8786.