William Spear, a seventh grader at Merton Williams Middle School in Hilton, was selected to participate in the 2018-19 Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra, the highest-level youth orchestra in The Hochstein School’s five-tier youth orchestra program.
Students compete annually for a seat in the orchestra, performing professional repertoire in at least four concerts throughout the school year. The HYSO’s first concert of the year is on Sunday, November 11 at 3 p.m. in Hochstein Performance Hall. The program includes Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, selections from Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, Bruch’s Kol Nidrei (with the RPO’s Tigran Vardanyan as violin soloist), Rakoczy March from Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, and the last two movements of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. The Ravel and Bruch works are in honor of the end of World War I (the concert falls on the 100th anniversary of the armistice) and the 100th anniversary of David Hochstein’s death.
This season, students from 24 different schools come together every Saturday morning for an accelerated musical experience. Since 2000, the HYSO has performed in cities in Spain, Portugal, Austria, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, and Ireland. The orchestra made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2002.
William plays trumpet and is in the seventh grade band and jazz ensemble. He is the son of William and Michelle Spear.
