The Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra (MDSO) will continue its 2015-16 performance season on Saturday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Kirkland Fine Arts Center.
The performance on March 5 is the second of two guest-conducted concerts featuring one of the finalists for the position of Music Director and Conductor of the MDSO. The guest conductor on March 5 is Dr. Sergey Bogza.
The concert will also feature performances from Millikin student soloists Jared Rixstine (piano), a senior piano performance major from Washington, Ill., and Amy Mazzeo (soprano), a senior vocal performance major from Rolla, Mo. The students were named winners of Millikin's annual Concerto/Aria Competition in Oct. 2015.
The concert will open with the Overture to Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio." Jared Rixstine will be featured in the first movement of Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 1," while Amy Mazzeo will be the soloist on Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" and Rossini's "Una voce poco fa." Following an intermission, the MDSO will conclude the concert with a performance of Tchaikpsky's "Symphony No. 4."
Dr. Sergey Bogza is the artistic director of the Mesabi Symphony Orchestra, music director and conductor of the Willmar Area Symphonic Orchestra, and is an active composer and pianist. A native of Taganrog, Russia, he earned a Doctor of Music from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Master of Music from Central Washington University, and Bachelor of Music from Portland State University.
During his time at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Bogza premiered two American operas, "Sister Carrie and Rosenkrantz" and "Guildenstern" by Grammy Award-winning composers Robert Aldridge and Hershel Garfein. He also led productions of Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Smetana's "The Bartered Bride," served as assistant to Mark Russell Smith, and led the campus orchestra program.
Prior to the University of Minnesota, Bogza was music director of the Heartland Symphony Orchestra, Hyperion Singers, and assistant conductor/instructor at Central Washington University. Bogza has been invited to conduct the Berlin Sinfonietta and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music orchestras, and has conducted the Discovery Series at the Oregon Bach Festival for three consecutive years.
In addition to his work on the podium, Dr. Bogza is an internationally recognized composer. With over 40 compositions and arrangements, his works have been performed across the U.S. and featured at the New Music Festival in Kazan, Russia. His composition "Remember" premiered in 2013, and has since been performed in Germany and Russia.
Young Artists
Jared Rixstine, a student of Dr. Chung-Ha Kim, Millikin adjunct faculty member, is a senior piano performance major from Washington, Ill. A lifelong lover of music, Rixstine began taking piano lessons at age seven. In addition to many years of piano training, Rixstine has studied guitar and clarinet, and performed as Principal Clarinet in the Millikin Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
Jared has won many piano competitions, including the Bradley University High School Piano Competition, and has taught piano lessons for nearly 10 years. One of his crowning achievements on piano was attending the prestigious Indiana University Piano Academy on their highest scholarship. In 2012, he became one of few first-year students to win the Millikin Concerto/Aria Competition, before winning again this year.
Rixstine is a dedicated academician in the Millikin Honors program, with a love for economics and foreign affairs. He has been in the Student Senate since his first semester and is currently serving his second term as president. Jared is a two-time Scovill Prize winner and is planning on a career of teaching music at the collegiate level.
Amy Mazzeo is a senior vocal performance major and a student of Dr. Hadi Gibbons, Millikin associate professor of music. She was born in San Jose, Calif., and moved to Rolla, Mo., when she was just five years old. Mazzeo has been a pianist since the age of four and also studied percussion in high school. Mazzeo is a three-year member of the Millikin University Choir and OneVoice, and is excited to be touring with OneVoice to Buenos Aires, Argentina in March of this year. She is a member of Alpha Chi Omega and Sigma Alpha Iota, and is the current president of Opera per tutti, Millikin's opera appreciation group. She is also the organist at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Mazzeo has held many roles in Millikin's Opera Theatre program. Her scene experience includes Madame Hertz in Mozart's "Der Schauspieldirektor," Laetitia in Menotti's "The Old Maid and the Thief," and the First Lady in Mozart's "Die Zauberflote." In 2013, she was cast in the title role of Millikin's mainstage production of Puccini's "Suor Angelica," and she recently performed in "The Magic Pinafore" as Nymphe O'Goodlove ("Queen of the Nightlife").
Last spring, Mazzeo was selected from a group of 15 singers to travel to Chicago to compete in the Classical Singer National Vocal Competition, where she had the pleasure of participating in a master class with Dr. Judith Haddon of Roosevelt University. This past fall, she was also selected to participate in a master class with Millikin alumnus Alan Held '81 of Wichita University. In Dec. 2014, Mazzeo sang as soprano soloist with the Rolla Choral Arts Society in Vaughan Williams'"Hodie."
The concert will be preceded by a concert preview hosted by guest conductor Sergey Bogza from 6:45 to 7:10 p.m. in the Kirkland lecture room. The preview is free to concert ticket holders.
Tickets are $13-$16.50 and are available through the Kirkland Fine Arts Center Ticket Office by phone at 217.424.6318 or online at kirklandfinearts.com. Kirkland Ticket Office hours are Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. A $2.50 fee will be charged for credit card purchases. This is a per transaction fee, not per ticket, and applies to online and Ticket Office orders.
Concerts of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the Symphony Orchestra Guild of Decatur.