Concert Notes:

"Rising Stars" Spring Concert at Saint Susanna Parish in Dedham on May 21, 2006

Dedham Savings Bank, the Avery School PTO and the Dedham Cultural Council will present the Parkway Concert Orchestra in a spring concert on Sunday, May 21 at 3 p.m. at Saint Susanna Parish, 262 Needham Street, Dedham. Music Director and Conductor Peter Freisinger has chosen a varied program to highlight four extremely talented local musicians. The program includes Die Fledermaus Overture, Smetana's "Dance of the Comedians", a premiere piece by Koray Sazli, a movement from a Mozart piano concerto with pianist Amira Acre, "That's a Plenty", "April in Paris" and "Sing, Sing, Sing". The orchestra will accompany Baritone Ishan Johnson who will sing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Close to You". The winner of the orchestra's 2006 violin concerto competition, Daisy Joo, will also be featured in "Intro and Rondo for Violin" by Saint Saens.

The program is supported in part by the Dedham Cultural Council, a local agency and Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Donation is $10; $8 for seniors and $5 for children under 12 years. For ticket reservations, please call 781-461-1823.

The Program:

Special Guests:

Amira Acre began her piano studies at the age of three. At four she gave her first concert and at age five won her first competition. Ms. Acre continued her studies at Juilliard on a full scholarship and graduated with her Bachelors and Masters Degrees. She won Artists International in New York which led to her NYC debut. Amira performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and appeared many times at Lincoln Center. Ms. Acre has received three Canada Council grants, fellowships from many organizations and festivals including La Fondation des Amis de l'Art, Tanglewood, Aspen, Banff and Fontainebleau. She earned her Doctorate Degree in piano performance and chamber music at Rutgers University. Her most recent Boston appearance was as soloist with the Brockton Symphony at Jordan Hall. She will be performing Rachmaninoff third piano concerto with the Civic Orchestra of New England in 2006. Amira now resides in Massachusetts with her family, including her three children and two golden doodles.

Baritone Ishan Johnson recently finished his Bachelors of Music at the Boston University College of Fine Arts where he studied with James Demler, Mark Schnaible, and Z. Edmund Toliver. He most recently performed the role of Betto in the B.U. Opera Institute's production of Gianni Schicchi. Other roles include Sciarrone in Tosca, Jabez in Regina, and Dashwood in Little Women. He was featured in the Opera Boston productions of Chabrier's L'etoile and Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia. Mr. Johnson hails from Long Island, New York and is excited to be performing with the Parkway Concert Orchestra.

Daisy Joo, a maturing violinist of 15, started her lessons at age 4. Since then her repertoire has flourished to solo, chamber, and orchestral music. She is part of New England Conservatory's highest orchestra, Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of the acclaimed conductor Benjamin Zander. This past summer, she traveled to Brazil and Venezuela with this youth orchestra. Currently, Daisy studies with Jin-Kyung Joen, a faculty member of NEC, and has been doing so for about 4 years. Recently Daisy won 2nd Prize in Brockton Symphony's Feinstein Concerto Competition, 3rd prize in Chamber Music Festival of New England's Chamber competition, and 3rd prize in NEC Preparatory School's Category B concerto competition. In addition to music, Daisy enjoys art, traveling, and design.

Koray Sazli, born in Istanbul Turkey in 1973, graduated from the classical guitar division at Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory in Istanbul (1994). He completed his Master's (1998) and Doctorate (2005) in music composition at Boston University. During his studies at BU, he was honored with the Composition and Theory Departmental Award, selected for membership in Pi Kappa Lambda (American National Music Honor Society), and was the winner of the Kahn Career Entry Fund Award. Mr. Sazli's compositions have been performed in Turkey, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece and the USA. He received the Jury Special Award at the First National Guitar Composition Competition in Istanbul, Turkey (2002) and Second and Third Places at the IX. International Competition of Blind Music Composers in Prague, Czech Republic (2003).

Dedham Savings Bank will sponsor the concert. Pictured from left to right are Jerry Lavoie, Executive Vice President, Dedham Savings; Dedham residents Sam Steinhauer (violin), Marie Rose (Avery School PTO concert chairperson) and Gail Parrott (French horn); music director Peter Freisinger; Bill Gothorpe, President, Dedham Savings; and Dedham residents Howard Ostroff (trumpet), Alice Abraham (violin) and Bill Porter (trombone).