If you are planning a trip somewhere to escape the winter’s cold, you should try and wait until after Sunday, Jan. 25.
On that day at 4 p.m., the Nittany Valley Symphony will hold its family concert, “Remarkable Kids,” in the Mount Nittany Middle School Auditorium.
Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and will be available at the door.
The NVS concert will feature a piece for narrator and orchestra, “The Remarkable Farkle McBride,” which tells the story of a boy with remarkable music talents. The selection is based on a children’s book by actor John Lithgow and will be narrated by Mark Ballora.
According to Maestro Michael Jinbo, “The program also includes pieces by composers who were child prodigies — Mozart, Mendelssohn, Rossini and Korngold — plus the winner of the Ann Keller Young Soloist Competition, violinist Raina Arnett.”
The Ann Keller Young Soloist Competition is named for the woman who organized the symphony more than 40 years ago. Through this competition, serious pianists and instrumentalists in grades nine through 12 honor Keller’s memory by competing to perform a movement of a concerto with the orchestra.
The students are all outstanding in their fields. The most recent contest was on Nov. 9, with Arnett declared the winner.
The winner of the competition is a remarkable young woman with a bright future.
“Seventeen-year-old high school senior Raina Arnett began playing violin at age four, convincing her mom to buy one for her after spending months parading around her house with two chopsticks pretending to play them as a violin,” says Jinbo.
Arnett attends State College Area High School and studies with Jim Lyon, professor of violin at Penn State University. She has been a member of many orchestras, including the Pennsylvania All-State Orchestra, the National High School Honors Orchestra and the World Youth Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to being in the Nittany Valley Symphony, she is the concert mistress of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra. She also spends her summers attending music festivals, most recently the Castleman Quartet Program, a seven-week chamber music intensive program that Yo-Yo Ma, renowned cellist, has rated, “the best of its kind.”
Singing is another interest of Arnett’s and she is a member of the State High Master Singers and Chamber Singers. “I found out that I had won the same day as the competition. I feel so honored to have won. There were so many talented students in the competition,” says Arnett.
When asked about her future plans, Arnett says, “Yes, I have good grades and could do other things, but I don’t think I would be happy if I did anything but music. I have several auditions coming up in the next month, but I don’t know where I will attend college, yet.”
It is clear that any college she chooses will be lucky to have her as a student.
Though Arnett and her personal music teacher chose the pieces for competition, for the upcoming concert Jinbo selected the program. “Raina will be playing a movement from Saint-Saens’ Violin Concerto No. 3,” Jinbo says.
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