Acclaimed violist Matthew Cohen and gifted young pianist Elena Gribelyuk will present their artistry with North Shore Symphony Orchestra in the second concert of its 56th season at JFK High School in Plainview on Saturday, March 11 at 8 p.m.
Maestro Vlad Vizireanu will open the concert with Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte and then Gribelyuk will perform Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43.
Finally, the orchestra will present Berlioz’s Harold en Italie (Harold in Italy), H.68, Op.16, featuring the artistry of Cohen.
Gribelyuk, a junior at King School in Connecticut, has received top honors at numerous concerto competitions throughout her young career.
Among her most recent wins are first prize in both the Schubert Club Bach awards and the Schubert Club Chopin awards, as well as first prize at the Connecticut State Music Teachers Association competition, all in 2014.
As the grand prize winner of the Concert Festival International Competition, Gribelyuk performed at Carnegie Hall in 2014.
This is her second appearance with the North Shore Symphony Orchestra; she performed Mozart’s Concerto No. 17 in 2011.
Violist Cohen, has distinguished himself in numerous national and international competitions.
Most recently, he received the top prize awarded at the Cita di Cremona International Viola Competition in Cremona, Italy, and first prize at both the 2016 Juilliard Concerto Competition and the 2015 Vivo International Music Competition.
Additionally, he received the “Best Performance of Commissioned Work” prize at the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition.
Vizireanu returns to the podium after being selected as a finalist in the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition where he led the London Symphony.
He was awarded second prize in the 11th International Cadaqués Conducting Competition where he conducted the Cadaqués Symphony in an internationally televised concert in L’Auditori Hall, Barcelona.
Tickets are General Admission: $15 and Senior/Student $12 and may be purchased at the door 30 minutes prior to the concert.
The 2016-17 season will also include performances on May 6 and June 3, when the orchestra will feature the winner of the NSSO Young Artist Award Competition and will perform the work of the winner of the inaugural New Horizons Composer Competition.
The New Horizons Composer Competition has been established to recognize rising metropolitan New York area composers between the ages of 18 and 30.
The Young Artists Award Competition is open to Nassau and Suffolk High School students in grades 9-12.
To qualify for the NSSO competition, students must play an orchestral instrument and enter with a movement from a standard concerto.
Contestants must audition with the entire movement, and an accompanist must be furnished by the student.
The winner will receive a cash prize, as well as the opportunity to perform as soloist with the North Shore Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, June 3.
Applications are due March 15 and auditions take place on the afternoon of Sunday, April 23 at Plainview-Old-Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School.
Applications and further information about the NSSO Young Artist Award Competition or the North Shore Symphony Orchestra can be found at www.northshoresymphonyorch.org, by calling 631-827-5401, or contacting Leslie Strait at lastrait@verizon.net.
NSSO concerts are made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature and administered by the Huntington Arts Council, Inc.
