While the Palisades members of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra may have different reasons for admiring their conductor and composer Russell Steinberg, they all articulate the conductor/player relationship clearly, respecting Steinberg’s unerring devotion to music and strong leadership. ‘Russell is committed to his music and he works to communicate a very specific goal with the passages he is building,’ says bassoonist Leland Meade-Miller, a junior at Palisades High. For violist Laura Sussman, ‘Russell understands the music. Every time we play, he notices new things, making us realize and visualize motives in the music.’ David Clymer, who plays the trumpet, calls Russell ‘a native musician who has a thorough knowledge of the history of music.’ Clymer, who is also drawn to composition, enjoys consulting with Steinberg on certain questions, ‘so it’s a little more personal,’ he says. All three musicians, students at PaliHi, sought to join the orchestra because of its professional standards. ‘We practice once a week on Sunday afternoons for four hours,’ Sussman says. ‘I love it; it’s a big chunk of the day, but it’s worth it. We play ‘real’ music. I feel really professional.’ And speaking of professional, the orchestra will perform in Carnegie Hall on February 25 as part of a special concert to honor the late Eve Cohen, who was LAYO’s program director and viola coach. When the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra was invited to perform in New York, Steinberg seized on it as an opportunity for the orchestra, but also, secretly, as a hopeful goal for Cohen, who had discovered she had terminal cancer. Adored by all the students and parents, she agreed to play with the orchestra one last time for the Carnegie concert. Cohen didn’t make it; she passed away in October. But her dream lives on in the hearts of the 75+ orchestra students who will premiere Steinberg’s ‘Eve Star’ in her memory in Carnegie’s main space, Stern Auditorium. The concert will also include Steinberg’s ‘Carnegie Overture,’ Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 8 and ‘The Miller’s Dance/Ritual Fire Dance,’ by Manuel de Falla. Sussman, a sophomore who joined the orchestra this year at the urging of her viola coach Jody Rubin, finds the music relatively challenging. ‘The first few weeks, it was horrible,’ she says of ‘Eve Star,’ ‘but now we have it. Both pieces are just beautiful. It sounds like you’re in heaven.’ Meade-Miller says, ‘The bassoon has some challenging parts and even carries a melody [the bassoon usually plays the lower harmonies] in ‘Carnegie Overture.’ In ‘Eve Star,’ the winds emphasize a lighter sense. Bassoons don’t always fit into that category.’ The trip to New York is purely voluntary, says Clymer, who elected to stay home. ‘I am a junior this year, so I thought it better to concentrate on my school work.’ Assessing Clymer’s busy schedule, one can sympathize with his decision. He belongs to the Colburn School’s wind ensemble, PaliHi’s jazz band and the advanced orchestra. Several orchestra alumni who knew Cohen will be joining the orchestra for the performance at Carnegie Hall. Violinist Niv Ashkenazi was eight years old when he had the dream of studying with Itzhak Perlman. His confinement to a wheelchair with spina bifida never stopped him from achieving. He auditioned for the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra and soon became the concertmaster. He now studies with Perlman at Juilliard and has a major career with performances at the Kennedy Center, Disney Hall and Carnegie Hall. Flutist Elizabeth Erenberg was entering middle school when she joined the LAYO. She now has a master’s degree in music from the New England Conservatory and performs and teaches in Boston. The Youth Orchestra was founded in 1999 with a semester grant from the Jewish Community Foundation. The orchestra reflects the true diversity of Los Angeles, representing over 60 Los Angeles area schools with children ages 8 to 18 with a wide array of socio-economic, cultural and religious backgrounds. Artistic Director Steinberg is also the L.A. Philharmonic’s Upbeat Live lecturer.
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