Youth ensemble to perform Sunday at Foothills
Jun. 1—Members of the Little Delaware Youth Ensemble have been practicing since March for this Sunday's concert at Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center in Oneonta.
LYDE Musical Director Uli Speth said he was "very much" looking forward to this week's performance. "It's the first time we're playing again in Oneonta since the pandemic started. We were going to celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2020, then the pandemic happened."
The LDYE has about 25 members from the Oneonta, Otego, Cooperstown and Delhi areas, and is broken into two groups, Speth said. The preparatory orchestra consists of the younger performers, while the older performers are in the ensemble, he said. According to Business Manager Arlana Young, there are 10 students in the preparatory orchestra and 15 in the ensemble.
Students audition for the chamber orchestra, but "it's not a scary audition," Speth said. There is a scheduled audition every year, which will be June 13, but if people move into the area throughout the year, they can set up an audition. Generally, students have been playing their string instruments for a year before they join the ensemble and they range in age from 6 to 18, he said.
The children practice every Monday afternoon at Foothills, where Sunday's concert will be held at 3 p.m., the website said.
According to the program for Sunday's performance, the preparatory orchestra, conducted by Debra Devine, will perform four short selections by R. Schumann, F. Mendelssohn, F. J. Haydn and W. A. Mozart, for a total of 15 minutes. The ensemble will perform longer pieces by Mozart, Farina, Tchaikovsky and McLean.
Student Sera Lentz, who is studying conducting, will conduct the Allegro of Mozart's Divertimento in F Major, K 138, during the performance, the program said.
Speth said the concert, which is free and open to the public, should last about an hour. It is Foothills' policy that face masks are required to be worn in the building.
The ensemble performs three times during the year, twice in the winter in Delhi and Oneonta, and once in June in Oneonta, he said. This year's winter concert was postponed from January to March due to the uptick in COVID-19 omicron cases and was only held in Delhi, he said.
While the concert was postponed, practice was not. Speth said the ensemble was able to start practicing in September 2020. "We implemented protective measures — masks, distancing, temperature checks, asking questions," he said. "It was great for the children to get back together."
One thing the ensemble hasn't been able to do yet is the workshop, led by prominent musicians from around the country, it presents for LDYE students and local public school students, he said. "We are making efforts to add one next year," he said.
For more information, visit ldye.org
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
