City Newspaper Archives - 3/2008
CLASSICAL: RPYO (3/9)
Published by Brenda Tremblay on Mar 05, 2008
If you were to hear the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra back to back with a professional band, it would take a moment or two to tell the difference. The group is THAT good. The members, all local high school students, play with polish and sophistication, in large part thanks to their director, David Harman. "He's caring, committed, and inspirational," says Oboe Mom Julia Figueras, whose daughter Molly plays in the RPYO. Over the weekend, Harmon was named 2007-2008 Musician of the Year by the Rochester chapter of music fraternity Mu Phi Epsilon. Not one to rest on his laurels, Harman will conduct the combined RPO and RPYO in classical blockbusters "Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov's beguiling "Scheherazade." Trombonist Gregory Hammond earned the chance to perform a solo and flutist Rebecca Copek will shine in "Fantasie brilliante sur ‘Carmen'" by Borne, a fantasy based on the seductive opera by Bizet. City readers of a certain age will associate this music with "The Bad News Bears."
