Season Opener Concerts
Maestro Leo Eylar extends a warm welcome and invitation to all as he inaugurates the 64th Season of the California Youth Symphony with a blockbuster opening program featuring the artistry of CYS Young Artist Competition winner Misha Galant. This young piano virtuoso will perform Rachmaninov’s titanic Piano Concerto no. 3, composed in 1909 and universally considered to be one of the most technically demanding works ever written for the piano. Thrill to the sheer virtuosity of Stravinsky’s music from The Firebird, his first commissioned ballet for the Ballets Russes in 1910 and the piece that launched the instant international fame and recognition of the composer. Our season opener also includes Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Weber, replete with jazzy rhythms, syncopations, catchy tunes, and dazzling orchestration. This is a season opener not to be missed!
Leo Eylar, conductor
Misha Galant, piano
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by C.M. Weber
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 (Misha Galant, soloist)
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
Prior to the performance, be sure to check out Maestro Eylar's interactive Paul Hindemith webpage. Featuring program notes, commentary, photos, videos, questions and answers, and more clickable content, it’s the perfect way to prepare you for the performance. Click here for instant access!
Young Artist Competition Winner
Misha Galant is a senior at California High School in San Ramon. He began piano lessons at the age of six with his mother and current teacher, Olya Katsman. Misha’s musical heritage includes three generations of pianists, including his great-grandmother who was a student of Maria Yudina, and his great-grandfather who studied with Heinrich Neuhaus in Kiev, Ukraine.
His accomplishments include first prizes in the state CAPMT Bartok and Contemporary Music competition, the state CAPMT concerto competition and Honors Auditions, the Marylin Mindell Piano Competition, the Pacific Musical Society competition, the Ross McKee Piano Competition, CYS concerto competition, and the San Jose International Russian Music Piano Competition. He was the MTAC concerto competition state winner in 2010 and 2015. As the winner of the Oakland East Bay Symphony concerto competition at the age of 12, Misha performed Chopin’s Concerto no. 1 with the Oakland Symphony on July 3, 2011. In February 2014, he was the winner of the Peninsula Symphony concerto competition and performed Rachmaninoff’s concerto no. 2 with that orchestra. In July of that year he also won a concerto competition at the Foulger Music Festival in Utah and performed the same concerto with the Utah Symphony. Only three months later, Misha won the Livermore-Amador Symphony competition with Rachmaninoff’s 3rd concerto and performed the finale with the orchestra this past February. Misha was a prizewinner in the first Junior Van Cliburn competition this past June in Ft. Worth, Texas and is a newly elected YAG member.
