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"In [the Honors] portion of the program we weren’t hearing dumbed-down student compositions, but rather substantial major works that in performance would have been the pride of any youth orchestra (...) Conductor Druško is to be congratulated for having in a few short months having brought the players to the high standard we heard yesterday afternoon." Lyn Bronson, Peninsula Reviews

Old News: The 2019-2020 Honors Orchestra Concerto Competition is Sunday, October 27th, from 2-6 pm at Hidden Valley Music Seminars. The deadline for submission is October 21st at 5 PM. The rules and application form can be found here; good luck! Thank you to everyone who competed! We're pleased to announce this year's winners are Lance Bauer, violin; and Bennett Bishop, euphonium. They will be playing their pieces at each of our upcoming concerts. Congratulations!

The Board and staff of YMMC are excited to announce the successful conclusion of the Music Director search! We have invited a very accomplished and highly regarded conductor, Danko Druško, to work with our students starting this August. Danko Druško was born and raised in Germany. He speaks German, English and Croatian fluently. He holds a DMA in conducting from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He was a fellow competitor of Farkhad Khudyev at the Solti conducting competition, and was a finalist in this event. Danko’s full biography can be found on his website: https://www.dankodrusko.com/ We invite you all to see Danko and the YMMC student musicians in action this year on Sunday November 3, 2019, March 1st, 2020, and May 3, 2020. We look forward to introducing you to Danko, and hope you will join us in giving him a warm welcome to Monterey!

2019-2020 Repertoire: Concert 1 – Sunday November 3, 2019: JYO: Ippolitov – Ivanov: The Procession of the Sardar (arr. Merle Isaac) Mozart: Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio (arr. Merle Isaac) Freidrich Seitz: Violin Concerto, featuring 2019 JYO Concerto Competition Winner, Rose Finn Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (arr. Jim Higgins) Honors: Brahms: Academic Festival Overture Emmanuel Chabrier: España Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol Concert 2 – Sunday, March 1, 2020: JYO: Wagner: Rienzi Overture (arr. Sandra Dackow) Verdi: Nabucco Overture (arr. Sandra Dackow) Artés: Chamambo Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, IV (arr. Vernon Leidig) Honors: Dvorak: Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70 Concert 3 – Sunday, May 3, 2020: JYO: Grieg: Norwegian Dances No. 2 and 3 Copland: Down a County Lane Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5 Khachaturian: Sabre Dance Honors: Honors Concerto Competition Winner Copland: Episodes from “Rodeo”

Youth Music Monterey County is pleased to announce Suzanne Mudge will become its new Executive Director beginning August 2019. Sue will continue as Coach of YMMC’s Brass Ensemble. Sue offers a wealth of experience as an educator, musician, and administrator to Youth Music Monterey County. She enjoys mentoring young musicians, and has dedicated much of her career towards creating musical opportunities for youth. Sue currently serves as Director of Community Engagement at the Carmel Bach Festival and has been a trombonist with the Festival for over thirty years. She will leave this position following the Bach Festival’s 2019 Season, which takes place July 13-27 (see https://bachfestival.org/). In addition to playing in the Festival’s Orchestra and directing both Tower Music and community outreach concerts, Sue created and scripts The Epic Adventures of Leonard and Rasmus, a series of interactive and educational concerts for families premiered at the Carmel Bach Festival. She has designed other successful and popular music education programs for the Festival, including Crossing Cultures and Sing Out Loud! Prior to joining the Carmel Bach Festival administrative staff, Sue taught at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, The Seven Peaks School, and was guest conductor of the Central Oregon Music Educators Association Honor Band. In addition, she performed with the Central Oregon Symphony, the Eugene Symphony, the Bend Brass Quintet, and soloed with the Linfield Chamber Orchestra. Her trombone students placed consistently in the top five at the Oregon State Solo and Ensemble Festivals. Before moving to Bend, Sue was an active freelance musician and music educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was Principal Trombone of the Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco and the Modesto Symphony. She also performed regularly with the Fremont, Marin, Berkeley, and San Jose Symphonies. She recorded numerous CD’s at Skywalker Ranch and with the Band Director at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Sue grew up in Laguna Beach and has a B.M. from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, a M.M. From the University of Arizona, and a teaching credential from Notre Dame de Namur University. Sue will be missed by the Carmel Bach festival. However, her joining YMMC represents many wonderful advantages for the young musicians of Monterey County. Her knowledge of both the Carmel Bach Festival and Youth Music Monterey County will help to build the ties between these and other music organizations.

“As a former YMM student myself, this concert didn’t feel like a goodbye. Rather it was a concert like the others, beautifully played and enthusiastically conducted. YMM was one of the biggest things in my life in high school, and Maestro Khudyev was always encouraging to me, even when I didn’t play my best. Before I believed I could study music in college he did, and for that I cannot express enough gratitude. He sees potential in all his students and that is one of the best things a youth orchestra conductor can do. (…) How Khudyev has turned the student musicians of Youth Music Monterey into a popular concert juggernaut that has regularly filled the Sunset Center auditorium with SRO audiences is both a tribute to his vision and charisma.” Read more on Performing Arts Monterey Bay by Monica Mendoza and Scott McClelland.

Elizabeth Mendoza, Lance Yang Bauer, Hannah Shu, Serenai Dincer, EB Diallo & Taylan Dincer (Peninsula Reviews) “Last night at Hidden Valley Music Seminars Theater in Carmel Valley we had just such an opportunity to hear the skills of individual players as selected members of the YMMC Chamber Players performed a benefit concert consisting of four carefully chosen works that not only showed off the individual players mastery, but also how they blended together and played off each other in demanding ensemble works.” Lyn Bronson, Peninsula Reviews

Bassoon soloist Amadeus Soria (Ian Martin) “At last the Honors Orchestra took the stage to open its half of the concert with Franz von Suppé’s Light Cavalry Overture, a 19th century bristle filled with technical challenges that, for the violins, proved a stretch. The orchestra’s principal bassoonist, Amadeus Soria (photo above), took the solo spot for Andante e Rondo Ungarese by Carl Maria von Weber, an early pioneer of the Romantic style of opera. At nine minutes, and a technical workout, it is often found on competition programs. Soria’s reading was virtually flawless and attracted an instant standing ovation. This young man, who has political science on his career agenda, is well ahead of the curve as a virtuoso of the instrument.” Scott McClelland, Performing Arts Monterey Bay

Soloist Amadeus Soria & Conductor Farkhad Khudyev (Peninsula Reviews) “The brilliant young bassoon soloist, Amadeus Soria, the recent YMMC Concerto Competition winner, was featured in a lovely performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s Andante e Rondo Ungarese, Op. 35. Soria, a senior at Marina High School, and a pupil of Erin Irvine, will be attending the University of Chicago this fall. We don’t often hear a bassoon soloist with orchestra, so this was a very welcome occasion, and probably most of the people in the audience were as unfamiliar with this work as I was. Soria gets a rich sound from his instrument, and he displayed a nimble technique equal to the demands of this challenging work. He received thunderous applause and a prolonged standing ovation.” Lyn Bronson, Peninsula Reviews

“In the Berlioz overture that began the concert, the Monterey Symphony was joined by selected members of the Youth Music Monterey County Honors Orchestra, who had the great privilege of playing along with professionals in a large symphony orchestra. Maestro Max graciously asked them to stand and take a bow at the end of the performance. He also called YMMC’s Director, Farkhad Khudyev to the stage and take a bow. This was an experience the young YMMC players won’t ever forget.” Lyn Bronson, Peninsula Reviews

Cello Soloist Katrina Yang Bauer & Conductor Farkhad Khudyev “Ms. Bauer performed John Garth’s Cello Concerto in B-flat Major. She was confidently focused and accurate throughout her performance, and quite attentive to the interplay with the orchestra and conductor. There was much more than a musical performance evident in her stage presence. (…) The [Honors Orchestra] members had the opportunity to perform with several professional musicians, and successfully blended together with the improvisations of the Azerbaijani soloists, who were Nijat Masimov (balaban), Natig Shirinov (naghara) and Abuzar Manafzade (piano). The performance was in 3 dramatic movements, complete with improvisatory solos from each of the guest artists. The students of the YMMC Honors Orchestra did an amazing job in adjusting to the unusual scale structures, which were related to harmonic minor with added chromatic flourishes.” James Neiman, Peninsula Reviews

“Soloist in the Garth was 12-year-old Hong Kong-born Katrina Yang Bauer who played with remarkable confidence for a musician cast into the spotlight at such a young age. For the Stravinsky, Khudyev showed why his professional opportunities are rapidly expanding; he shushed the strings down to a gripping pianississimo at the end of the berceuse. Few professional orchestra conductors demonstrate such faith in their instincts and, more important, their musicians.” Scott McClelland, Performing Arts Monterey Bay