Youth symphony is serious about its fiddling around
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Post-Gen-Y kids are uninspired, their parents are uninvolved, and — oh, by the way — nobody cares about classical music because it's boring and it sucks.
Karl Hedberg
Cue the Jack Black character, right?
Being in the Hawai'i Youth Symphony Association's elite Youth Symphony I calls for dedication, but there's also a fun factor, the young musicians say. The orchestra performs Sunday at Hawai'i Theatre.
Better yet, check out the Hawai'i Youth Symphony Association Sunday as it kicks off Louis Vuitton's 150th anniversary celebration with a performance likely to smooth those rough assessments.
"A Celebration of Excellence" features the association's Youth Symphony I orchestra, along with concert pianist Lisa Nakamichi, the Hawai'i State Ballet dancers, Gen. Fred C. Weyand, and drummer Sango, who will premiere local composer Neil McKay's new work for congas, bongos and other Afro-Caribbean percussion. Association music director and conductor Henry Miyamura selected music to highlight Louis Vuitton's French and American connections, including pieces such as "American in Paris" and "Rhapsody in Blue."
Cellist Myke Okuhara is, well, jazzed about the performance.
" 'Rhapsody in Blue' is my favorite of all time," he says.
In nine years with the association, Okuhara, now a senior at the UH Lab School, has come to relish the intensive preparation and discipline required for such a high-profile, high-complexity performance.
"We have fun at rehearsals, but Youth Symphony I is also almost semi-professional with the concerts we do, so you have to pay attention," he says. "It can be challenging, but if you're not willing to be challenged, why are you here?"
Concert marking Louis Vuitton's 150th anniversary
Okuhara says his association experiences have taught him to give his all to whatever he commits himself to, be it his role in the orchestra or his activities as a stage manager for school productions.
'A Celebration of Excellence'
"To me, performance mode is being willing to exhaust myself during a concert or a play," he says. "It's knowing you'll be exhausted at the end, but that's OK"
The association is a nonprofit organization that provides high-level instruction to some 450 young musicians, from beginners to polished pros, representing more than 90 public, private and home schools on O'ahu, Maui and the Big Island.
Youth Symphony I is the highest level of the association's three full orchestras and four string orchestras, and the goal of students who join the association.
Cellist Jill Morita, a junior at Moanalua High School, started with the association's beginning strings program at age 7 and worked her way up to Youth Symphony I .
Her mother, Janet, is one of several very involved parents who help keep the association running. A designated "concert parent," Janet Morita assists Miyamura at rehearsals, handling whatever small tasks that need attention.
"The parents are extremely supportive," Miyamura says. "It's interesting to see psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers and university professors carrying stands and setting up chairs."
Miyamura, a former assistant conductor with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, is a professor of music at the University of Hawai'i and conducts the UH Symphony and Chamber orchestras.
He says his 20 years with the association have provided hundreds of satisfying moments.
"The one thing these kids have in common is they're all very bright, very sharp," he says. "There's no nonsense when they're working toward a goal."
But as violinist Taylor Choy points out, all that mutual striving doesn't mean the students aren't having fun.
Choy, a home-schooled 12th-grader, says he enjoys the social aspects of being in a orchestra as much as the music.
"Because I'm home-schooled, I don't belong to a school orchestra like a lot of the others," he says. "I'm used to playing solo. One of my favorite things is just having the ability to meet friends and play in an orchestra."
