YPO Soloists Ensemble to celebrate fifth anniversary

By Emily Sorensen

The Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO) Soloists Ensemble has been entertaining Poway and Rancho Bernardo for five years, and will celebrate their fifth anniversary season with a concert on Nov. 2.

The concert, which will be at 4 p.m. at the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church, 17010 Pomerado Road in Rancho Bernardo, will kick off the group’s fifth season and will feature several guest soloists.

“This concert is special in a number of ways,” said Alyze Dreiling, the group’s music director and conductor. “We have a fantastic young soloist, organist Thomas Mellan, who will be performing in Poulenc’s “Organ Concerto for Organ Strings and Tympani.” Mellan previously performed with the Soloists Ensemble in November 2011, where he performed a Handel organ concerto, as well as an original, modern piece of his own, said Dreiling.

The concert will also feature three violin soloists, two of whom are Poway Unified School District grads returning home to perform with their former group. Keita Ishibashi, who graduated from Rancho Bernardo High School in 2007, and Jaclyn Salts, who graduated from Poway High School in 2008, will be joined by Katie Raybould to perform the Vivaldi “Concerto for Three Violins.” “It’s very exciting to have them back,” said Dreiling.

The concert will feature mostly French music, other than the Vivaldi piece, said Dreiling. “I really wanted to do the Poulenc, and we could do it with Thomas,” she said.

The YPO Soloists Ensemble will also perform three additional pieces at the concert, the Saint-Saens “Prelude for Le Deluge,” the Faure “Nocturne” from “Shylock” and the Charpentier “Suite for Strings,” which Dreiling described as a beautiful Baroque piece.

The YPO Soloists Sinfonietta, a group for middle school musicians who will advance into the Soloists Ensemble, will be having their first season this year, and will perform their first concert in late January or early February, said Dreiling. The group features about 18 talented young musicians, and will perform two concerts this season, with the second being in late May.

Dreiling said that the Sinfonietta is practicing some challenging work for their concerts. “They’re not playing any arrangements, only the original work,” said Dreiling, which includes Mendelssohns’s “Strings Symphony.” “It’s a very challenging piece,” said Dreiling. The group is also working on Bach’s “Concerto for Three Violins.”

The YPO Soloists Ensemble will be performing four concerts during their anniversary season including the November 2 concert. The others will be in late January or early February, April and late May.

This year also marks the first year that the concerts will be sponsored by the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church, said Dreiling. “They’re adopting us and will be sponsoring all four concerts,” she said.

Dreiling also has another reason to be excited this month, as she recently won third place nationwide in the youth orchestra division of The American Prize in Conducting.

“I never thought we would get to five years,” said Dreiling. “I hoped we would. It’s very exciting, and I’m delighted with all the performers. They’re doing great.”

The concert is free and open to the public. Visit www.yposd.org for more information.