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Three young soloists will shine at Consort’s annual concerto showcase

They got where they are by their talent so come and hear these remarkable young folks

The Valley’s Cowichan Consort Orchestra presents their annual Concerto Concert entitled “Featuring Our Youth” on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Christian Reformed Church on Trunk Road.

It’s all about showcasing the talent of the 2018 winner in the orchestra’s annual Concerto Competition.

This year’s winner, 11-year-old Elijah Kim, will play Vivaldi’s famous Spring Violin Concerto in E major from the Four Seasons.

Kim won the competition, which is held in a music studio in Maple Bay, in late November. He studies in Victoria with Simon MacDonald.

Robert Mari will conduct the orchestra for this event and has also invited the two runners-up from the competition to perform as well.

Cowichan Valley viola player, 12-year-old Mai Ikemura, a student of Guyonne de Louarn, will perform the beautiful Bruch Romanze for Viola and Orchestra and 12-year-old Luke Kim will play Haydn’s C major Concerto, first movement, on his cello with the orchestra. He studies cello with Martin Bonham.

According to Consort publicist Joy Ann Bannerman, the orchestra is grateful all the music teachers who sent candidates this year to perform at the November competition.

“The talent was amazing,” she said, urging young musicians to come and and be inspired by these three young soloists.

The orchestra will round off the evening’s program with Beethoven’s Third Symphony, well known as “The Eroica”.

This work truly begins the Romantic era of music as Beethoven pushed beyond the boundaries of the classical style with this composition, Bannerman says.

The third of the composer’s nine symphonies, originally dedicated to Napoleon, Beethoven erased his name and dedicated it “to the memory of an heroic man” as Napoleon Bonaparte had just proclaimed himself Emperor.

Elijah Kim’s bursary prize will be presented by Alice Sinclair, Concerto Competition chair. Last year’s winner Felipe Jiang, eight years old, went on to play at the Symphony Splash on Victoria’s waterfront, playing his piano concerto for that huge audience.

Cowichan Consort’s Concerto Competition has been an annual event for the Valley since 1994 when Maple Bay pianist Jennifer Harvey was the first winner performing the Schumann Piano Concerto in A Minor.

Adults get in for $20 and with children under 18 admitted for $10.Tickets for the show are available at Volume One Bookstore in Duncan and at the door. The doors open at 6:45 p.m.