Cello Concert Benefits Holy Innocents' Fine Arts Scholarship

Wick Simmons ’13 returns to Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School Sunday, Sept. 11, for a concert to benefit the school's Fine Arts Alliance Merit Scholarship fund. No tickets are necessary to attend the 3 p.m. performance in the Fine Arts Building on campus, but donations will be accepted.

“I was the first recipient of the scholarship and just wanted to give back,” Simmons said. “All of the proceeds donated will go to scholarships.”

Simmons is currently studying under Hans Jørgen Jensen at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. At Sunday’s concert, he will play compositions by composers such as J.S. Bach, John Cage and Dmitri Shostakovich, with Atlanta pianist Shirley Irek joining him on some of the pieces.

Simmons has appeared as a soloist with the Georgia Philharmonic and the Georgia College and State University Orchestra, and was recorded with the Northwestern University Cello Ensemble. In 2012, he was selected to appear on the NPR show “From the Top,” America’s largest showcase for classically trained young musicians. In January 2013, Simmons organized and performed a memorial concert for the benefit of families affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Simmons was recently named the string division winner of the 2016 National YAMAHA Young Performing Artists competition. He has also won top prizes at the Samuel Fordis Young Artists Competition, the Atlanta Music Club Scholarship Competition, and the Anthony Quinn Foundation Scholarship. Officials at the Anthony Quinn Foundation described Simmons as having “remarkable stage presence and a gift for communicating with his audience.”

Earlier this year, Simmons was invited to perform at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art in Evanston, Ill., for its exhibit “A Feast of Astonishments: Charlotte Moorman and the Avante-Garde, 1960s-1980s,” featuring the works of John Cage. This summer, he attended the Orford Centre D’Arts in Montreal, and the PyeongChang Music Festival in South Korea.

Anyone who would like to contribute but cannot attend the concert can make a check out to HIES and note that it is for the Fine Arts Alliance Merit Scholarship fund. Send to Michele Duncan, the HIES development office, 805 Mt. Vernon Hwy. N.W., Atlanta, Ga., 30327.

Call 404-303-2150 ext. 282 for more information.

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(Photo courtesy of AMN Photography)