A Suzuki violin concert featuring more than 100 performers will be held 4 p.m. Sunday, May 14 in Lehman Auditorium.

The students, ranging in age from 3 to 18 years, will come from all parts of the central Shenandoah Valley, including Augusta, Bath, Page and Shenandoah counties.

The concert will begin with the most advanced pieces and more students will be added until all are on stage for the grand finale of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Teaching Interns to Assist

Instructors Maria Lorcas, Jessica Trainum and Sharon Miller will lead the students, along with teaching interns Bethany Freesen and Julia Long.

The concert will also include students from the Garth Newell Suzuki Program in Hot Springs, Va., taught by Cynthia Penne of Lexington, Va.

Most students are part of EMU’s , offering year-round music lessons and ensembles for students of all ages and levels since 1988.

Currently, 350 students are enrolled in various aspects of the program including (ages 18 months – 6 years), the Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra and instrumental Lessons (violin, viola, cello, piano, guitar, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and harp).

Outreach Project

EMU’s Preparatory Program also has an Outreach Project, an effort to provide string instrument instruction to students who would not otherwise have the opportunity. Currently 36 students receive violin instruction at Stone Spring and Keister Elementary Schools and at EMU.

Outreach students will be playing in the Suzuki Violin concert and come from the city of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. In addition to the partnerships with the city schools, the project receives support from the Virginia Commission of the Arts, The Arts Council of the Valley and the Music Gallery.

Sunday’s concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Preparatory Music Program at 540-432-4277.

The Junior Strings ensemble will perform a variety of music from around the world, including excerpts from Handel

Between 80 and 90 students in the play variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" for the finale number in a Suzuki violin group concert held Sunday, May 15, at 草莓社区. The program opened with several students performing advanced repertoire. As the concert progressed, the pieces became less advanced and more students were added, culminating with everyone playing the familiar tune.

The Preparatory Music Program, part of EMU’s music department, had 193 students enrolled the past year in the instrumental program alone. The program also includes the and classes for a total enrollment of 310 students. Private instrumental lessons and Musikgarten classes are offered throughout the summer months.

Through grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Arts Council of the Valley along with private donations, an "" has expanded into local schools, working with students who can’t afford lessons or instruments. In addition to fall and spring recitals, Preparatory Music students gave programs at the Massanutten Regional Library, the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum and the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.

The 22-member Junior Strings ensemble, directed by Sharon M.D. Miller, will open the program with the third movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 by Bach and the "Finale" from Symphony No. 2 in C by Tchaikovsky.

These intermediate string players come from Shenandoah, Rockingham and Augusta Counties, as well as Harrisonburg, New Market, Staunton and Waynesboro. Miller is the administrative director of the EMU where she also teaches Suzuki violin and viola, music education and Suzuki pedagogy courses. She has taught at EMU since 1989.

The string members of the youth symphony will perform three movements of Corelli’s "Concerto VIII" featuring violinists Jessica Peck and Benjamin Roth as well as cellist Nathan Bontrager and Bergen White on harpsichord.

The full orchestra, conducted by Maria Lorcas, will perform Mozart’s "Overture to Don Giovanni," the "Romanian Folk Dances" by Bartok and two movements from Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 7." Seven graduating seniors will be recognized at the concert, followed by a reception for the students and audience.

The Shenandoah Valley Youth Symphony consists of 37 members from a three-county area representing 11 public and private middle and high schools. Students are selected by audition.

Ms. Lorcas is in her third season as the youth symphony conductor. She began her undergraduate studies in her native country of Venezuela and later received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music (violin performance) from Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon Universities, respectively.

Lorcas has been teaching privately and coaching orchestra strings since 1993. She is also a trained Suzuki violin teacher, has a studio in the Preparatory Music Program and teaches in the Outreach Project.

The Youth Symphony has been a part of the Shenandoah Valley Preparatory Music Program since 1990. Musical instruction is given to 310 students in the following areas: (violin, viola, cello, piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, guitar, Suzuki violin), (ages 18 months to 6 years), and the Shenandoah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra/Junior Strings (grades 4-12), and the Violin Outreach Project (funded in part by
the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Arts Council of the Valley).

Admission to the concert is a suggested $5 donation at the door.