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Contemporary Youth Orchestra opens season with a bang (Dec. 9)

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by Mike Telin

CYOfullFor the past 22 years, conductor Liza Grossman has been turning young musicians on to the expansive repertoire that falls under the category of new music. On Saturday, December 9 in CSU’s Waetjen Auditorium, Grossman led her Contemporary Youth Orchestra in the opening concert of the impressive ensemble’s 23rd season. The program, titled “Go! Music to Get You Moving,” took listeners on a stroll from the English countryside to the birthplace of techno music in the empty warehouses of downtown Detroit. [Read more…]

Contemporary Youth Orchestra to feature concertos on December 9

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by Mike Telin

frisof_300x300“Until I joined CYO I wasn’t aware of the world of contemporary music,” flutist Sarah Frisof said by telephone. “But by the time I went to Eastman, I already had my ears opened to listening to music differently. I would credit my time in the orchestra with making that happen.”

On Saturday, December 9 at 7:00 pm in CSU’s Waetjen Auditorium, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra under the direction of Liza Grossman welcomes back alumna Sarah Frisof as soloist in Joan Tower’s Flute Concerto for its first concert of the season. The evening also features a second solo work, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ beautifully pastoral Oboe Concerto, performed by the Orchestra’s concerto competition winner Kate Young. The program will include Mason Bates’ The B-Sides, Clint Needham’s Free Radicals, and Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2. Tickets are available online.

Since her time with CYO, Sarah Frisof has earned degrees from Eastman, Juilliard, and the University of Michigan. In addition to an active performing career, she is also an enthusiastic educator. She has served on the faculty at the University of Kansas and is currently Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Maryland. [Read more…]

Melissa Etheridge and Contemporary Youth Orchestra bring laughter and tears to Severance Hall

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by Samantha Spaccasi

CYO-June-2017A flurry of proud parents and enthusiastic Melissa Etheridge fans descended on Severance Hall last Wednesday at 7:30 for her concert with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra. The concert was part of CYO’s annual “Rock the Orchestra” series. Etheridge and the Orchestra played songs spanning the rocker’s entire catalog, ranging from hits like I’m The Only One and lesser-known songs like Kiss Me. After an instrumental introduction led by music director Liza Grossman, Etheridge stormed the stage, then the ensemble launched triumphantly into Fearless Love. [Read more…]

Melissa Etheridge to perform with
Contemporary Youth Orchestra
June 7

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by Mike Telin

Etheridge“This concert is going to be one of the most unique things that I’ve ever done,” celebrated singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge said during a telephone interview. “I’m just so thrilled, excited, and nervous — I’ve got to be on top of my game for this.” On Wednesday, June 7 at 7:30 pm in Severance Hall, Etheridge will join conductor Liza Grossman and her 115-piece Contemporary Youth Orchestra plus a 50-person choir for a concert that will feature some of the legendary singer’s greatest hits, as well as rarely-heard tracks from her multi-decade career. [Read more…]

Contemporary Youth Orchestra: a conversation with Andrew Sords

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by Mike Telin

sordsThe Contemporary Youth Orchestra will kick off its 21st season with a concert on Saturday, December 10 at 7:00 at Cleveland State University’s Waetjen Auditorium. The program will feature celebrated violinist and CYO alum Andrew Sords in a performance of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto under the direction of Liza Grossman.

“I feel like I’m the only thirty-year-old violinist on the planet who’s never performed this concerto,” Andrew Sords said during a recent telephone conversation. “But I am of the Zen mindset that when it is meant to be, something or someone will show us that it’s the right time. And 20 years ago to the day of this performance, I played my first concert as a member of CYO.”   [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest: Contemporary Youth Orchestra plays music from video games at CSU (Mar. 12)

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by Daniel Hathaway

CYO-031216Probably nothing divides human beings quite so neatly into two groups than whether or not they play video games. The members of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra obviously fall on the “I do” side of that divide. On Saturday evening, March 12 in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University, Liza Grossman led CYO in their annual “Music and Its Industry” concert, this year featuring symphonic arrangements of video game music. Presented under the umbrella of NEOSonicFest, the evening was as fun as it was loud. [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest: Contemporary Youth Orchestra to team up with Neoglyphic Entertainment

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by Mike Telin

CYO-Recording-Sunborn-RisingOn Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 pm in Cleveland State University’s Waetjen Auditorium, Liza Grossman’s Contemporary Youth Orchestra will team up with Neoglyphic Entertainment to present “POWER UP, music from video games. The program will includes tunes from Super Mario Brothers, Angry Birds, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Zelda, Pokemon, and Halo, and music from the upcoming video game Sunborn Rising. The concert, presented as part of NEOSonicFest, is the tenth edition of CYO’s annual Music and its Industry series.

In the past, the series has focused on Broadway music, movie scoring, and songwriting. This year, the program will feature past and future video game music. “Video games are filled with fantasy and require logic, memory, and quick reaction from both mind and body to fulfill goals,” CYO founder and artistic director Liza Grossman said during an interview. “The music gives the experience more depth and really creates the atmosphere of each game. It can be light and fun, like Mario Brothers, or deep and foreboding, like Final Fantasy.” [Read more…]

Contemporary Youth Orchestra at CSU with DeeJay Doc (December 12)

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by Mike Telin

CYO-121215In a celebration of popular culture in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University on Saturday evening, December 12, music director Liza Grossman and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra offered up terrific performances of clever works by Leonard Bernstein, Michael Daugherty, and DeeJay Doc. [Read more…]

Contemporary Youth Orchestra: Conversations with Liza Grossman and Dee Jay Doc

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by Mike Telin

GROSSMAN-LizaThe Contemporary Youth Orchestra will present the first concert of its 21st season on Saturday, December 12 at 7:00 pm in Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University. “The orchestra is exceptionally strong this year and has a sense of maturity not just in their work ethic, which they have always had, but also in their technical ability,” CYO founder and Liza Grossman said during a telephone conversation. Grossman will lead her young musicians in Leonard Bernstein’s Mambo, Dee Jay Doc’s Trust-Belt City: Concerto for Turntable and Orchestra, and the centerpiece of Saturday’s program, Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony.

“I like Michael’s music very much and CYO has explored quite a bit of it, including movements from this symphony,” Grossman said, “but I wanted to wait for the right time to perform the entire symphony.” [Read more…]

NEOSonicFest: Ed London tribute with CCS & CYO at Waetjen Auditorium (Mar. 24)

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by Daniel Hathaway

CCSRehearsalNEOSonicFest planned a big agenda for its fourth concert at CSU’s Waetjen Auditorium on Tuesday, March 24. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony brought works by five “Young and Emerging Composers” to life under music director Steven Smith; Liza Grossman and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra reprised Stefan Podell’s Concerto for Two Violas and Orchestra with Lynne Ramsey and Jeffrey Irvine; and the two orchestras played side-by-side under Smith’s direction in a performance of Bernard Rands’ London Serenade to honor the memory of CCS founder Edwin London. [Read more…]

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