New York Youth Symphony Orchestra Music Director Michael Repper And Jiji To Premiere Guitar Concerto At Carnegie Hall

Music Director Michael Repper and the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra will open their 56th season on Sunday, December 2, 2018, 2:00 pm at Carnegie Hall. The program features guitarist Jiji performing the world premiere of light, beloved, a landmark electric and classical guitar concerto composed by First Music award winner Natalie Dietterich. The piece is the first guitar concerto by a woman composer to be performed in Stern Auditorium, Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, marking the 35th Anniversary of the NYYS First Music commissioning program. The performance further exemplifies the NYYS mission to diversify the music community by creating unique opportunities for young musicians.

Mr. Repper says "The New York Youth Symphony is a worldwide leader in the presentation of new music, having featured a world première on every concert for decades. It is my mission to build on that reputation by further diversifying our programming, which is why I am so ecstatic that we have commissioned Natalie Dietterich to write this guitar concerto, and that Jiji will be performing it. The students of the New York Youth Symphony are very excited to share this wonderful piece!"

The program will also include Borodin's Polovtsian Dances and Barto?k's Concerto for Orchestra. Tickets from $20 ($10 students), available at nyys.org/jiji.

Michael Repper is an emerging conductor of classical music, jazz, pops, and musical theater. A graduate of Stanford University, he recently completed his doctoral residency at the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a student of Gustav Meier and his longtime mentor, Marin Alsop. Mr. Repper was the Peabody Institute-Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellow for two seasons, and continues to work with the Peabody Institute ensembles. Mr. Repper still holds leadership positions in several music organizations in the Baltimore

area. He is currently the Music Director of the Northern Neck Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Concert Artists of Baltimore, New Music Consultant for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Maryland. Mr. Repper's international performances include a recent debut with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil, masterclasses with the Artes Nazionale Orchestra in Florence, Italy, and performances in Australia.

Applauded by the Calgary Herald as "...talented, sensitive...brilliant," Jiji is an adventurous artist on both acoustic and electric guitar, playing a wide range of music from traditional and contemporary classical to free improvisation. Her impeccable musicianship, combined with compelling stage presence, earned the Korean guitarist First Prize at the 2016 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Jiji's 2018-19 season features two major debut performances: her Carnegie Hall/Stern Auditorium debut with the New York Youth Symphony, performing the world premiere of a concerto written for her by American composer Natalie Dietterich, and her Lincoln Center recital debut on the Great Performers series. She also performs at Arizona State University in Tempe, where Jiji is on faculty at the ASU Music School. Currently sponsored by D'Addario Strings, Jiji's performances have been featured on PBS (On Stage at Curtis series), NPR's From the Top, and Hong Kong broadcast station RTHK's The Works. Her new EP recording, Underglow (May 2018), features acoustic music by Bach, Albeniz, Ginastera and Dyens, in addition to her own electronic composition. A passionate advocate of new music, Jiji has premiered music by renowned composer, Paul Lansky, and as a recipient of the BMI commissioning prize resulting from the CAG Competition, Jiji has commissioned Nina C. Young to write a new solo piece (to be premiered in 2018-19). In addition, the American Composers Orchestra is commissioning a new guitar concerto by Hilary Purrington (previous NYYS First Music winner), to be premiered by Jiji in an upcoming season. Born in Seoul, Jiji (Jiyeon Kim) moved to the US in 2009 to study with Jason Vieaux at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She earned her undergraduate degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2015, studying with Mr. Vieaux and David Starobin, as part of the very first class of guitarists in Curtis' distinguished history. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, studying with Benjamin Verdery.

Natalie Dietterich Natalie Dietterich is an American composer and vocalist from Harleysville, Pennsylvania. Her visceral work mines patterns and is often tangential to social issues. Recently her music has been performed by the Shanghai Symphony, wild Up as part of the LA Philharmonic's National Composers Intensive, The Crossing as part of the Big Sky New Music Initiative, and as a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute. Ms. Dietterich has been awarded residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, the Norfolk Chamber Music Institute, and at Arts, Letters, and Numbers. She is the recipient of the 2016 Leo Kaplan prize of the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, and has been an honorable mention for awards from BMI, ASCAP, and The American Prize. Ms. Dietterich is a graduate of the Yale School of Music with an M.M. and M.M.A. in composition, and of West Chester University with a dual degree in composition and violin. She will be starting her Ph.D. in composition at Princeton University this fall.

About the NYYS

The NYYS is one of the most awarded youth programs of its kind in the nation, recognized for its innovative, tuition-free educational programs for talented young musicians. Founded in 1963 as an orchestra to showcase the metropolitan area's most gifted musicians ages 12-22, its activities have since grown to encompass programs in jazz, chamber music, conducting, composition, and musical theater composition, with performances at world class venues including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Public Theater. As a tuition-free program, NYYS is proud of its socioeconomic diversity and core organizational values to educate and inspire young musicians through exceptional music training and performance opportunities. NYYS provides over $1 million in scholarships so that financial need is never an obstacle for a qualified student to participate in its impactful programs.