KSO ANNOUNCES COMPOSITION CONTEST WINNERS
The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will showcase two student compositions during the 2009 KSO Youth Concerts. The winning work from the K-6th grade category is Stephanie’s Song; Cedar River Waltz, composed by Stephanie Truitt. The work selected from the 7th-12th grade category is Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, by Samn Johnson. Truitt’s piece, which she composed for piano, will be orchestrated by KSO Arranger Harrison Orr. Johnson’s piece was written for full orchestra and will be performed as it was submitted. It is the first work selected in the history of the KSO Young Composers in Concert program to be performed without further orchestration.

Truitt is a 6th grade student from Portage North Middle School and the daughter of Jean and Ed Truitt. She studies piano with Sandy Denzel. Truitt’s piece was chosen from among seven submissions in the K-6th grade category. Her composition will be orchestrated for the KSO by arranger Harrison Orr. Truitt said of her interest in composing, “It wasn’t really intentional. The first song I wrote happened when I was just playing around. I found something I liked and kept going with it until I had a song.” The title of her piece was a suggestion from her uncle during a family trip to Cedar River in the Upper Peninsula.

Johnson, a senior from Portage, is currently attending Interlochen Arts Academy. He is the son of Nancy and Rick Johnson. He plays double bass, piano and guitar. His music teachers in Portage have included Leo Hazen and Noah Krzan, and at his composition teachers at Interlochen are Dr. Cynthia vanMaanen and Dr. John Boyle. Johnson became interested in composing after studying the music of Dmitri Shostakovich during his sophomore year of high school. After several months of exploring orchestral music of many eras, he began working on his own compositions.
He began working on his Symphony No. 1 as an exercise in form. Said Johnson, “I tried to use the traditions of the past few centuries, and apply them in a modern, yet tonal, context. The philosophical and emotional ideas of the piece focus on the journey from darkness to light, much like Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.”

Both works will be performed during the series of ten KSO Youth Concerts on
March 2-6, 2009. A combined audience of nearly 13,700 students, teachers and chaperones from Kalamazoo and surrounding counties will attend. The theme for this year’s concert is “The Changing Orchestra.” The program will feature selections from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern Eras as students explore how the orchestra and the music written for it have changed through the centuries. Says KSO Assistant Conductor Dr. Barry Ross, “We include great student compositions on our Youth Concerts both to recognize the outstanding creative achievements of young musicians, and to help young audiences recognize composition as a living art form in which they can participate.” The concerts will also feature outstanding youth soloists, to
be announced after auditions on January 10, 2009.

KSO Youth Concerts are made possible in part by: Burdick-Thorne Foundation, Dorothy U. Dalton Foundation, Monroe-Brown Foundation, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra League, Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, Pfizer Corporation, Tyler Little Family Foundation, Upjohn Mason Grandchildren’s Chair in Music Education, 2008 Youth Concert Luncheon Supporters; with additional support from: Howard and Howard Community Reinvestment Fund, John E. Fetzer Institute Fund of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Ladies Library Association, Mignon Sherwood DeLano Foundation, Target Distribution Center