|
Rising symphony stars
Published November 27, 2009
When Elizabeth Hitzfeld, Caiti Beth McKinney, Richie Miller and Danielle Stevens perform next week as part of the Symphony of the Hills’ Rising Stars concert, they each will take center stage, hog the spotlight — if only for a few minutes — and soar.
“Even students in colleges and universities don’t get this opportunity,” said Jay Dunnahoo, conductor and artistic director of the mostly regional orchestra. “We feel it helps their growth as musicians. When they leave and enter a collegiate setting, they’re way ahead of other people.”
The musicians will be featured in two upcoming concerts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, at the Kathleen C. Cailloux City Center for the Performing Arts, 910 Main St.
Tickets are $35 at the Cailloux Theater box office or may be purchased by calling 896-9393.
Elizabeth Hitzfeld
Hitzfeld, a native of Spring, started playing violin when she was 5 years old. These concerts mark the first time the 20-year-old Schreiner University junior has performed a solo in front of such an enormous audience.
“I’m so nervous just playing in front of the orchestra,” Hitzfeld said, noting she plans to eat a banana to calm her nerves.
Hitzfeld will play two movements of Vivaldi’s Summer Concerto from his work titled “Four Seasons.” The chamber piece, also known as Concerto No. 2 in G minor, opus 108, L’Estate (Summer), has one completely slow movement. The other movement goes from slow to really fast to slow to really fast to slow again. It’s a lot like the intensity of summer, Hitzfeld said.
“It’s very emotional,” Hitzfeld explained, noting the music matches her personality. “It’s kind of like a beautiful summer vacation. It’s a beautiful summer day, then the storm comes, and then it goes back to being beautiful, and back and forth.”
Last summer, Hitzfeld’s mother bought her a 1950s violin made by Charles Bailly that had been reconditioned from a Stradivarius, a violin made by the renowned family of makers. The tone quality is “incredible,” said Hitzfeld, who also has played with the Texas Music Educators Association All Region Orchestra and earned awards from the University Interscholastic League.
“It sparked my passion, my love for playing my violin,” Hitzfeld said. “I began to practice more. I began to love the violin more just because of the way this violin made me sound.”
Hitzfeld’s dream job would be to play either with the Los Angeles Philharmonic or participate with an orchestra recording music for a Disney movie. In the meantime, Hitzfeld is majoring in performance music, looking at graduate schools and practicing her piece for the upcoming concert that will be attended by her friends and family.
“Being here, my family hasn’t really been able to see my progress,” Hitzfeld said. “They’ve never seen me play by myself. They’ve seen me play in orchestra performances. They’ve never heard just me. This will be a good opp for them to hear me.”
Caiti Beth McKinney
McKinney, a senior at Tivy High School, began playing music in the Hill Country Youth Orchestras when she was in elementary school. She started out with the violin, then tried the cello and now plays the French horn.
At the Rising Stars concert, she will play Horn Concerto No. 4 in Eb, K. 495. She was a featured soloist earlier this year with HCYO and plans to attend Baylor University, where she was extended a merit scholarship, according to her personal statement.
McKinney’s father is George McKinney, and her mother, Karen Billingsley, is the principal violinist in the Symphony of the Hills. Aside from playing music, Caiti Beth McKinney also took ballet for 11 years and now ranks in the top 5 percent of her graduating class, according to a statement provided by Dunnahoo.
The accomplished student’s resume also includes spots with Texas Music Educators Association All Region Band, three years as first chair at Tivy and a two-year stint as Brass Captain, her statement noted.
Dunnahoo said he recently saw the original Mozart score on display in London. He called the music “symmetrical” and “expressive.”
“It’s really a neat piece,” Dunnahoo said. “It keeps returning to the first theme. They (audience) will keep hearing that familiar melody.”
Richie Miller
Miller, a 17-year-old senior at Tivy, considers playing percussion a “never ending adventure” in technical skill and diversity. In the upcoming concert, he’ll be featured playing the marimba in Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra by Tchaikovsky.
Helping him on to the stage with his bulky instrument will be his father, Jeff Miller, who also plays percussion alongside him in the Symphony of the Hills orchestra. Jeff Miller introduced percussion instruments to the Rising Star when he was 9 years old. During Richie Miller’s first concert, his father helped him count through the music. His mother’s name is Sharie.
“He’s learned a lot of stuff and passed it down to me,” Richie Miller explained at the risk of sounding sappy. “It is a lot of fun. It’s time to spend with my dad and also develop ourselves. Our relationship is even stronger from spending time together.”
The teen, whose favorite instrument actually is the timpani, plans to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio and hopefully participate in its new marching band. Eventually, he would like to earn a doctorate degree and teach at the collegiate level. He also would like to play with as many symphonies as possible.
Aside from playing percussion, Miller also enjoys writing and has penned about 30 poems and a handful of short stories. He also has played basketball and volunteered for missions with Trinity Baptist Church.
Practicing for his upcoming solo performance with the contemporary piece has helped him advance, said Richie Miller, who has earned several awards and spots with regional orchestras. He said he has memorized his piece and plans to ignore any nervous energy, and simply focus on the music.
“There’s a lot of fast exciting energy, which makes it exciting for me and the audience,” Richie Miller. “It’s pushed me further as a player to a more professional degree of playing.”
Danielle Stevens
Stevens, a 17-year-old senior at Tivy, will play the flute to Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, opus 107 by Cecile Chaminade for her solo performance. The piece is eight minutes of slow, pretty flowing melody mixed with faster complicated notes.
While playing, Stevens imagines a forest with dark shadows and dramatic outlines of trees during the intense parts of the song. Then, when the tempo slows to a pretty melody, she thinks of rays of sunlight beaming through a clearing and birds singing.
“It helps me to feel the music. Not only for myself, but to portray it for others,” Stevens said. “It would be like my imagination coming out through the notes.”
Stevens chose the flute in fifth grade. She said she remembers wanting a feminine instrument and still loves the way it sounds.
“I don’t want to ever stop playing,” Stevens said, adding she also would like to teach. “I’d also like to help others learn to do this.”
She hasn’t decided yet, but likely will study music at UTSA, Texas Tech University or Southwestern University.
Her dream job, Stevens said, would be to have her own established studio, just like her teacher and mentor, Michelle Adam.
Stevens, who like the other Rising Stars also has been recognized with awards and spots in regional bands, also has other hobbies, including swimming, writing, watching current movies made about historical times and playing games with her friends.
She also enjoys making collages with inside jokes for friends and family members.
Stevens said she’s excited about her sister coming from Lubbock, her parents, Jack and Leslie Stevens, and grandparents, Ret. USN Capt. Jack and Frances Stevens, coming to see the show.
When any thoughts of nervousness creep up, Stevens said she quickly squashes them.
“I try to just think good thoughts. That’s the only real way to get rid of bad ones,” Stevens said. “I remind myself I’ve played it countless times. It shouldn’t make a difference to me if I’m in there or in a practice room.”
The concert
Aside from “being blown away” from hearing these award-winning musicians perform solos during the first half of the concert, Dunnahoo said, attendees also will hear the symphony perform “The Nutcracker Suite” with guest appearances by Schreiner student conductors — Deanna Brandt, Michael Flis, Ellen Hernandez, Elizabeth Hitzfeld, Justin Mills and Katelyn Van Slycke.
Also, many of the musicians performing in the orchestra aren’t simply “hired guns,” but neighbors, co-workers and friends.
“We use community members,” Dunnahoo said. “We want our local people to be involved. This is part of our mission for locals to soar.”
During the first half of the show, the music will be performed in chronological order and take attendees through three centuries of music history. Then, it will end with “The Nutcracker.”
“They (audience) are beginning to think about Christmas,” Dunnahoo said. “Everyone enjoys the music of ‘The Nutcracker.’ ... It’s quite satisfying to hear the music played and let your mind do whatever it wishes.”
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Comment
|
|
|
 |
|
Photo Reprints
Get Daily Times photos from the latest games and scenic locales.
Special Sections
Visitor's Guide
Real Estate Guide
Hill Country Life
Medical Directory
Home Directory
|
