Youth Orchestras of San Antonio's next performance has an interesting premise. I spoke to Music Director Troy Peters, who explains it.
"This Sunday May 1 we're going to be previewing YOSA's European tour, and we're especially excited to be featuring a YOSA Alumna, Jennifer Berg, who's a remarkable oboist, who also plays with the San Antonio Symphony."
Berg thinks the oboe stands alone in its sound, a sound that helps it cut through the other players' sounds.
"It's just a whole different beast." Referring to its use in movie soundtracks she says, "A lot of the love scenes are depicted an oboe solo or maybe both oboes, like in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet."
And she's a proud Youth Orchestras veteran.
"It was really, really fun for my parents especially when I joined as a sophomore in high school and went on a Europe tour with them. So now here we are back again, another YOSA tour."
This summer she and the YOSA Philharmonic will be going to Eastern Europe to play.
"Yes! We'll start in Prague, then go to Vienna and end in Budapest. I'm really excited to have an excuse to go back."
Peters will be conducting, and he tells us what selections they'll be playing.
"We're doing Dvořák's 8th symphony, which we're going to play later in Prague, Dvořák's home town. We're playing Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody, which we're going to take to Hungary. And we're going to bring along some American music, too. So Jennifer Berg, YOSA Alum is going to play this American oboe concerto by Eric Ewazen."
Peters finds a musical connection between Ewazen and Dvořák.
"They're both the kind of music that just make you cry. They're gorgeous music."
Find more on YOSA here.
Find more about this event here.
