Centenary Suzuki School students to be featured in upcoming Shreveport Symphony concert
SHREVEPORT, LA - On Saturday, October 24, the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (SSO) will host a free outdoor Family Concert at 4:00 p.m. in Betty Virginia Park which will feature 15 year old violinist Cal Alexander as soloist and also the STRAD class of the Centenary Suzuki School. Seating will be socially distanced and masks are required.
Alexander has been studying in the Centenary Suzuki School (CSS) since the age of four and won second prize in the National MTNA Strings Competition as well as first place in the Enkor International Violin Competition. He began his training at CSS with Angela Russell (CSS alumna) and has been studying under Laura Crawford for the last eight years. He also studies with Jan Sloman of the Cleveland Institute and was accepted to study with the famed Itzhak Perlman this past summer and for the next two summers. He attends Caddo Magnet High and toured the US, Canada, and Brazil in three Broadway musicals.
The STRAD Class is made up of the eight most advanced violinists at the Centenary Suzuki School and is led by Laura Crawford, founder and director of the CSS. The violinists are Alexander, Landon Kay, Neelie Lim, Diego Martinez, Juliana Miller, Ashini Modi, Abigail Wilemon, and Sophie Winer, all of whom started studying violin in the CSS between ages four and six.
Alexander will perform the Vitali “Chaconne” and the STRAD students will perform a movement of the Bach A minor Violin Concerto. Other pieces will be Copland’s Hoedown and works by Grieg and Bartok.