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Saratoga Sampler
Many Saratoga youth play in symphony
By Mary Ann Cook
NAKAMATSU IN BENEFIT: Famed pianist Jon Nakamatsu will perform with the El Camino Youth Symphony (ECYS) March 9 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Redwood City and March 10 at Foothill College. Both concerts will be at 7:30 p.m., and both are benefit performances.
Special guest cellist Michail Gelfandbein will also be featured in the concert. Gelfandbein and Nakamatsu are good friends and the cellist was instrumental (no pun intended) in enlisting Nakamatsu for the youth symphony benefit.
The cellist, who was principal cellist of the Leningrad Philharmonic for 25 years, discovered Nakamatsu's amazing talent even before the pianist, then a German teacher at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997.
It's extremely unusual for a professional musician to play with a youth orchestra, reminds Cathy Spief, ECYS director. Saratoga has a special affinity with the ECYS because so many local youngsters are involved in its programs. There are 10 different levels of performance offered by the ECYS and the Senior Symphony is the top.
Some 13 Saratogans will be playing in this concert, all members of the Senior Symphony. They are Christopher Chen, Connie Chen, Teresa Huang, Alice Huang, Steven Hwang, Grace Jih, Kevin Liu, Jennifer Liu, Jenny Nam, Sabrina Tam, Elisha Tam, Xin Wang and Ryo Yamagishi.
All are high school students, except for Xin Wang, violinist, who is a middle school student. In addition, 17 others from Saratoga play in the less advanced music groups at ECYS.
"We believe that we are teaching more than music," says Spief, about the group's mission. "From their audition to their graduation, we support them, celebrate with them, and help them understand that if they work together something wonderful will happen--great music."
Nakamatsu will play Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the symphony. The symphony will also perform Franck's Symphony in D Minor and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances. Gelfandbein will play Bruch's Kol Nidrei. Dr. Camilla Kolchinsky is the symphony conductor.
Tickets to the concerts are $25 and $15 and the contact is 650.327.2611 or ecys@earthlink.net.
GREETINGS FROM SAN JOSE: The Wicks send email greetings from San Jose, but this San Jose is not the one next door, but the capital of Costa Rica. Dan and Berit and daughter Kristina are on a Latin American Mission project and are spending the first few months training in Costa Rica.
They report that San Jose is a beautiful town at 3,500 feet elevation, overgrown with lush flowers and full of friendly people, and smack in the midst of summer season. The Wicks are spending 3-4 hours daily as students, absorbing the culture and learning, or relearning, the language.
The main hang-up seemed to be getting Kristina's hamster through customs--a process that took the entire afternoon. Their phone number is 506.250.1670 and mailing address is: Spanish Language Institute, P.O. Box 522628, Miami, FL. 33152-2628.
OLYMPIAD OF THE ARTS: More Olympians coming up: these from the Olympiad of the Arts competition, sponsored by West Valley-Mission Colleges Foundation. The competition is open to high school students, community college and lower division college students in the county.
The Olympiad was initiated in 1928 by Sen. James Phelan, founder of Montalvo, and Professor Henry Meade Bland. They envisioned Santa Clara Valley as the Athens of the West, with a contest held every four years, to coincide with the Olympic Games.
As though to confirm their belief, the event is now held every year. The awards ceremony will be May 5, in conjunction with the Saratoga Rotary Art Show. For entry guidelines, call the foundation number at 408.741.2066 or visit: http://www.mission college.org/community/olympiad.
TEATIME: The American Association of University Women's English tea is March 23 at 2 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, Saratoga. The tea benefits homeless women and children and is sponsored by the AAUW Committee on Homeless Women and Children. Tickets are $25 and the contact is Jackie Anderson at 408.867.0108.
Doors open at 12:45 p.m. for the silent auction. Make checks payable to ISPF (Interbranch Special Projects Foundation).
NATIONAL MUSIC AWARD: Los Gatos songwriter/singer Chuck McCabe has won the national Woody Guthrie Songwriting Competition and will be "rubbing elbows with the Big Boys," as he puts it, when he plays at the Guthrie Folk Music Festival this summer in Oklahoma.
McCabe, 57, has been performing since he was a teenager. He is a comic, and a banjo and guitar player who writes his own songs. He'll be at The Cats March 6 and 13 and at Carry Nation's March 14. His companyWoodshed Productions, can be reached at 408.358.2427.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
