FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Press Release #08-194
 
Flautist Giuseppe Nova Performs with Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 P.M. at Severn School

(St. Mary’s City, MD) Oct. 16, 2008 – Internationally renowned flautist Giuseppe Nova will perform Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major with Maestro Angelo Gatto and the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) Saturday, Oct. 25, in the Price Auditorium at Severn School (201 Water Street, Severna Park, Maryland, 21146) at 7:30 p.m.  Other European classical selections include Mozart’s “Idomeneo” Overture, Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” and Bach’s Fugue in G minor.  General admission is $12, with an $8 senior and student discount.  For more information, visit www.myso.info or www.smcm.edu.

The Maryland Youth Symphony is preparing for a 10-day musical tour of Northern Italy, where they will also be in residence at St. Mary's College of Maryland’s Alba campus.  Alba is a town of roughly 10,000 citizens, located about an hour south of Torino.  There, the students will participate in master classes and rehearsals with the “Musica Civico” of Alba. They will also perform in the city’s 12th-century cathedral, San Domenico.  In addition, MYSO will perform in Cremona's Teatro Ponchelli, the city of Aosta, and the city of Portofino.  Brian Ganz, pianist and artist-in-residence at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM), is the anticipated soloist for the tour.  St. Mary’s College’s campus in Alba allows St. Mary’s students and others the opportunity to study the liberal arts and music performance in Italy.  Students have the chance to study with principal players of the Italian National Symphony and the Reggio Opera House, and vocalists can study with the renowned La Scala Opera. Past participants have come from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Peabody Conservatory, among others.

Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra was founded by music director Angelo Gatto to bring together talented musicians from schools and colleges throughout Maryland to train under professional musicians. The orchestra has performed in schools, on television, and in various concert halls worldwide. Programs are performed for audiences of all ages, from children to senior citizens. Jeffrey Silberschlag, artistic director and head of music performance at SMCM, is currently Artist-in-Residence with the Maryland Youth Symphony.  Silberschlag is also the holder of the Steven Muller Distinguished Professorship in the Arts chair, which acknowledges the creative outreach work he has done within the music discipline.

Nova graduated from the Conservatory in Turin and “Conservatoire Supérieur de Lyon” where he studied with Maxence Larrieu. Described as one of the most outstanding Italian flutists of his generation, Nova made his debut in 1982 as a soloist with the RAI Symphony Orchestra. This marked the beginning of a brilliant career which has led him to perform in concert halls in Europe, the United States, Japan, and China.

Gatto brings to the MYSO a wide background as violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer. He received his master's degree from the “Instituto Artistico Musicale.”  A much-in-demand conductor, Gatto has conducted for festivals, workshops, symphonies and operas throughout Europe and America. In addition to his MYSO concert tours, Gatto conducted the American Youth Orchestra on a European goodwill tour and the Royal Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in London. He is a member of the music faculty at the Community College of Baltimore County, the conductor and founder of the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra, and maintains a private studio for violin students.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best liberal arts schools in the nation by “U.S. News & World Report,” “The Princeton Review,” and “Kiplinger’s.”  Founded in 1840 as Maryland’s “monument school” commemorating the state’s first capital, SMCM is the state’s only public honors college, offering “an Ivy-level College with a public-school price tag” (“Newsweek”).

Some 2,000 students attend the college, which has the highest graduation rate for all Maryland public colleges and universities, and an SAT average for student admissions of 1252. The school’s waterfront campus along the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland is home to the 2007 National Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Women’s, Sloop and Team champions.