Young Artist Orchestra Concert, October 16

The Greenville County Youth Orchestra’s Young Artists Orchestra presents its opening concert of the season at Gunter Theater on Thursday October 16th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.00 and are available in advance or at the door at The Peace Center Box Office (467-3000). The Young Artist Orchestra will premier a new work by composer and Fine Arts Center graduate Alex Wroten entitled Zukunftsanqst. Alex’s formal composition studies began in 2004 studying music theory under Dr. Gary Robinson and composition under Dr. Jon Grier at the Greenville County Fine Arts Center. The next year, Alex entered The University of South Carolina School of Music. He is currently a senior music composition major, Alex studies composition under both Dr. John Fitz Rogers and Dr. Reginald Bain and classical guitar under Christopher Berg. The concert will include the Violin Concerto in e, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn. The featured soloist will be Kevin Tompkins. Kevin studies violin with Dr. Eun-Sun Lee at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. A senior at Wade Hampton High School, he also attends the Fine Arts Center, where he studies chamber music with John Ravnan and coaches middle school chamber groups in the after school ARMES program.

Greenville County Youth Orchestras is a program of the Greenville County School District’s Fine Arts Center. Our Young Artist Orchestra’s 53 members, some of the Upstate’s most gifted young musicians, represent many of the high schools in the district, as well as other public and private schools from across South Carolina's Upstate. Members earn honor-level credit through the Fine Arts Center of the School District of Greenville County.

For more information, contact Holly Caprell, Executive Director, GCYO Association Holly.gcyo@gmail.com Additional information is available at www.gcyo.net

Bill Kendig, Publicity Chair, GCYO Association

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(Image by Bill Kendig) Kevin Tompkins studies violin with Dr. Eun-Sun Lee at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. A senior at Wade Hampton High School, he attends the Fine Arts Center, where he studies chamber music with John Ravnan and coaches middle school chamber groups in the after school ARMES program. Kevin has also studied in summer programs with Charles Castleman at the Quartet Program (2008) and with Paul Statsky at the North Carolina School of the Arts (2006). His previous violin studies were with Elizabeth Fee-Elliott.

In 2008, Kevin was named first alternate in the SC All-State Solo Competition, and was awarded the 3rd place scholarship in Greenville’s Crescent Music Club Competition. Also in 2008, as a member of the Fine Arts Center Trio, Kevin competed in the final rounds of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Indiana. He was a member of the winning ensembles both at the 2008 Carolinas Chamber Music Competition and at the 2007 SC Instrumental Chamber Music Competition at Converse College.

Kevin has been a member of the SCMEA Regional and All-State orchestras each year since 2003. He has been a member of the Young Artist Orchestra since 2006, and during the 2007-2008 season he served as the orchestra’s Concertmaster. After high school, Kevin hopes to pursue a degree in violin performance.

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Alex Wroten began his music studies by studying drums at the age of six. At age eight, he started taking piano and guitar lessons as well. After experimenting for a few years with writing and recording his own music with multi-track tape recorders and computer software, Alex began to write his music down in traditional notation. In middle school, he wrote pieces for his school’s concert band and a few works for guitar and piano. In high school, Alex grew interested in film soundtrack music and focused his attention to electronic music and synthesis for many film scores. This interest has continued through today.

Alex Wroten’s formal composition studies began in 2004 studying music theory under Dr. Gary Robinson and composition under Dr. Jon Grier at the Greenville County Fine Arts Center (in Greenville, SC). The next year, Alex entered The University of South Carolina School of Music. Currently a senior undergraduate music composition major, Alex studies composition under both Dr. John Fitz Rogers and Dr. Reginald Bain and classical guitar under Christopher Berg.

Zukunftsangst (roughly translated, "worrying about the future") was composed over the summer of 2008 while Alex was in close contact with me over its scheduled premiere. It is intended as a piece of "absolute music," or music that refers to its own inner workings as opposed to one that makes reference to a story. In my conversations with him, Alex and I agreed that his composition would be more about orchestral color, mood, and atmosphere than typical orchestral fodder dealing with narrative and grand rhetoric. A look at Alex's score reveals the success with which he met this assignment. Contrary to many densely packed contemporary scores, Alex's has more white (empty measures) than black (notes) on most of its pages. A satisfying proportion of Zukunftsangst moves slowly, lingering over delicious dissonances and piquant combinations of instrumental colors. Lovers of orchestral drama, however, will not be disappointed. Alex's firmament in film composing comes through in passages compelling and cinematic. In fact, even without its title and the directions that accompany each section of the work ("Agitated & Hopeful," "Defeated & Brooding," "Frustrated,") Zukunftsangst will still work for you if you close your eyes, open your imagination, and sit in the comfortable chair of your personal, cerebral movie house.