Concertmaster, daughter are symphony soloists
"Amber Waves," the second concert in the Butler County Symphony Orchestra's 61st season, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 in the auditorium at Butler Intermediate High School, 551 Fairground Hill Road.
The theme for the season is "The Dream of America."
Opening the concert will be Morton Gould's rendition of "America the Beautiful." Then the orchestra will continue with the works of the immigrant composers Victor Herbert, Percy Grainger and Igor Stravinsky.
Featured soloists for this concert will be Butler County Symphony concertmaster Galina Istomin, who emigrated to the United States from Russia, and her daughter, Katerina, a recent Juilliard graduate, who will play Mozart's "Sinfonia Concertante" for violin and viola.
Galina Istomin received a master's degree in music performance and education at Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has an extensive experience both as a performer and a teacher. She has been a member of numerous orchestras, such as St. Petersburg State Chamber Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov, Mussorgsky Theater Ballet and Opera Orchestra. She has also taught at the Tchaikovsky School of Music for Children.
She came to the U.S. in 1991. In Pittsburgh, she has performed with the Edgewood Symphony Orchestras as a concertmaster and a soloist and is currently concertmaster of the BCSO. She has taught privately at Duquesne University City Music Center. She is a member of Pittsburgh Ballet and Opera Orchestras, private coach at Shadyside Chamber Music Festival, and also holds a position as a string instructor at The Ellis School, where she created the "Silver Strings" program, encompassing string, woodwind and brass players.
Katerina Istomin began her music studies on the violin and piano at age 10. She won several competitions including the Duquesne Young Artist's Competition in both the solo piano and duo piano divisions. She started playing viola at age 16. She was principal viola of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony in the 2002-03 season. She has also won several competitions such as the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist's Auditions and is a recipient of the Tuesday Musical Club Stephen Foster Memorial Scholarship.Reserve seat tickets for the Nov. 7 concert are $15 for adults and $5 for students and are available at the Symphony Association office, 259 S. Main St. At the door, adult tickets will cost $18.For more information, call 724-283-1402 or visit the Web site, www.butlersymphony.org.
