Centenary Youth Orchestra to present fall concert November 4
SHREVEPORT, LA — The Centenary Youth Orchestra (CYO) will present its fall concert, “Fall Fantasia,” on Monday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium located at Centenary’s Hurley School of Music. Featured soloists include Centenary alumnus Carson Alvarez ’23, current Centenary student Felix Kraus ’25, and CYO member Darick Harris, a senior at Haughton High School. The concert is free and open to the public.
The theme for ‘Fall Fantasia’ was inspired by the seasonal time of year and from the title of one of the selections, Ralph Vaughn-Williams' Fantasia on the well-known Christmas carol “Greensleeves,” or “What Child is This.” The Vaughn-Williams piece features strings, harp and two flute soloists, CYO co-principals Harris and Kraus.
"Felix and Darick truly exemplify the core of the CYO's mission statement in creating the opportunity for the best musicians from both area high schools and our college to become colleagues and mutual mentors,” said Dan Santelices, CYO director. "Felix has been a quiet leader in the orchestra and within the Hurley School of Music. Darick is recognized Louisiana's top-ranked high school flautist in Louisiana for the last two years. Their talent has been a blessing to me and the CYO. I wanted to present this opportunity to allow them to be seen and heard in the front of the orchestra."
Carson Alvarez is a 2023 Centenary graduate who currently works as part of Centenary’s Alumni Relations team. He was a music major specializing in vocal performance. Alvarez continues to study piano with Hurley School of Music professor Dr. Gay Grosz. He will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 8 "Lützow" in C-Major, K. 246
“Carson bravely approached me this past summer about performing this piano concerto,” said Santelices. “His hard work, facility, and musicianship convinced me to program this to be performed with CYO. The piece was composed in 1776 and was a commission for Countess Antonia Lützow, the wife of the commander of the royal fortress in Salzburg, when Mozart was 20 years old."
The “Fall Fantasia” program also includes portions of a suite from Tschaikowsky's music for the ballet Swan Lake. As a member of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Santelices was fortunate to perform the entire ballet with the World Ballet Company of Moscow at Shreveport’s Strand Theater last spring. He wanted to share the excitement of that once-in-a-lifetime experience with the CYO by placing the Swan Lake suite on the fall program, which includes the opening scene, waltz, Dance of the Swans, pas de deux, and mazurka. The pas de deux features a violin and harp solo that will be performed by Centenary seniors Dominick Benedetto and Gene Angelo Nucal, respectively.
The “Fall Fantasia” concert will also present Allen Silvestri's score and suite to the 1994 Academy Award winning film, Forrest Gump.
“It's definitely a film that, no matter which portion happens to be on TV, I will stop everything and watch,” said Santelices. “What an amazing and fantastical story which interweaves actual historical events with the life of the memorable title character. Silvestri’s score is magical.”
The CYO provides college-level playing experiences for advanced instrumentalists ages 13 and above. CYO members perform repertoire for strings, woodwinds, and brass in both chamber and large-scale orchestral settings. For more information, visit centenary.edu/hurley.
The November 4 concert will be streamed live on the CYO Facebook page at centenary.edu/cyo.