Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining us for our 15th Season Finale Concert today. We are very grateful for your support.
This has been our best year yet. We have celebrated a great concert season – with full orchestra performances for our Season Opening Concert at Holy Name of Jesus Church; the first ever Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in the City of El Segundo; an MLK Day performance at the California African-American Museum; a concert at Holman United Methodist Church featuring United States Senator Raphael Warnock as speaker; performances at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church; and a host of performances with smaller ensembles for great events like the Urban League Gala and other such festivals. In addition to our performances, we started a Drum Corps program this year that debuted at our Season Opening Concert, and has made numerous appearances this season, including their debut performance today at Disney Hall. The Drum Corps program has also been engaged with the County of Los Angeles Probation Department to provide services in the County’s Juvenile Hall facilities. This is the first such program like this in the nation, and we hope to make it a model for serving young students who are in need of diverting to a positive path.
But perhaps most significantly, this year, we have received a grant from the State of California that has allowed us to purchase a building. The site – 2045 West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard – is currently a neighborhood market, that will soon be renovated into our rehearsal and administrative headquarters. Please drive by and take a look, and plan now to attend our grand opening around this time next year in the newly renovated facility. We are indebted to California State Senator Steven Bradford for sponsoring the legislation that made this grant a reality. Thank you Senator Bradford – more than words can say!
In addition, we are indebted to Maryann Garger, Ryan Suffern, Christopher Stoudt, and Moonage Daydream Productions for the new documentary film “The Orchestra Chuck Built.” This film –the story of our orchestra – debuted at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado in May where it won the Audience Choice Award for Short Films. It is now scheduled for screenings at a number of film festivals around the world. This is exposure for us that cannot be bought. So thank you Maryann, Ryan, Chris and the team. I hope that all who are reading this message will see the film and share it with others.
We are planning a full Season for 2023-24. Please see the advertisement for that Season on the following pages of this program.
Thank you again for being with us today, and for your consistent, loyal support.
Los Angeles has been at the epicenter of creative flourishing within the arts for the last fifteen years. So much so, that not even a global pandemic, nor a growing population of quelled unhoused persons could stop it. I would argue that the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (“ICYOLA”) is the most outstanding example of this era’s creative flourishing, and we should be justifiably proud of its many accomplishments.
The Orchestra began nearly 15 years ago at a very propitious time in the city’s life. Our identity crisis as a city posed the serious question of what kind of urban space we wanted to be. Not only have we now settled on the highest level of diversity attainable, we also turned sharply to the arts, for resolution of these eternal questions about our place under the sun. The Orchestra contributed to and benefited directly from this art approach and the huge influx of new talent and new wealth that flowed into this city from both inside the U.S. and abroad, most notably West Africa. The artistic opportunities emergent in L.A., both attracted and uncovered an immense wealth of talent within our community that has been present since the Great Migration of the early 1920s. The 21st century has influenced all intersections within the creative arts. From the hip, classical scene at Disney Hall (ICYOLA), to dance (Lula Washington Dance/Debbie Allen Dance), theatre, painting (Kehinde Wiley), fashion, and new film sub-genres (Pan African Film Festival), Los Angeles is the undeniable art capital of the world.
ICYOLA has an unparalleled collective of community supporters, from annual Disney Hall attendees, which follow the Orchestra throughout its entire season, to The National MLK Memorial in D.C., to The Getty, to The Holy Name of Jesus Church, to The NFL and YouTube Theatre. This fan base includes financial donors, subscribers and ticketholders, a throng of family foundations, and patrons of the arts who love music, and are able to relate to being young, gifted, and Black!
We can all salute Charles Dickerson and the leadership of ICYOLA for this remarkable accomplishment
15 years later, ICYOLA has achieved an amazing accomplishment. The Orchestra has acquired a physical home, a building that will become a new “Conservatory” for our community, on MLK Jr. Boulevard. By this time next year, we hope to see you again at our 2024 Season Finale Concert at Disney Hall, with the new ICYOLA headquarters fully occupied and operational. It will have a rehearsal space, practice rooms, a music library, and storage space for our future musicians to use. It will be a new hub for the arts near Leimert Park, a teaching center for aesthetes and musicians, a scaffold of learning for the art-deprived, an elixir of hope for the underserved, and the standard of excellence for yet another era of human flourishing in the City of Angels.
ICYOLA Board of Directors
J. Stanley Sanders, Esq., Chair
Earl Wooten, Treasurer
Sandra Goldsmith Bennett
Hansonia Caldwell, Ph.D.
Charles Dickerson III
Jazmin Morales
James Montgomery
Jonathan Weedman
Marcus Wilson-Smith
We have planned a Full Season for 2023-2024, a season that will feature lots of choral music. Please plan now to join us – either in the audience, or come and join our chorus! Call our offices for more information.
2023 PERFORMANCES
Sunday, October 8 - Hymns Concert at Holman United Methodist Church
Sunday, November 19 – Season Opener at Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College
Featuring Special Guests – The Angel City Chorale and a Tribute to Kenneth Brown
Saturday, December 16 - Christmas Concert at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church
Featuring Handel’s Messiah, Part I
2024 PERFORMANCES
Saturday, January 13 - MLK Day Concert
Monday, January 15 - MLK Day – Parade & Concert at The California African-American Museum
Friday, March 29 - Good Friday Concert at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church
Featuring Handel’s Messiah, Part II
Sunday, April 7 – Post-Easter Sunday Concert at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church
Featuring Handel’s Messiah, Part III
Summer 2024 – ICYOLA at the Walt Disney Concert Hall
Featuring West Side Story Dances, Bernstein
Porgy and Bess, by George Gershwin
WHO IS ICYOLA?
ICYOLA is a nonprofit organization that provides high-quality music and literacy education to young people in Inner City Los Angeles, empowering them to succeed academically and professionally. Since its beginning in 2009, ICYOLA has helped young people discover and develop their musical talents, leading to increased self-confidence, improved academic performance, and more excellent opportunities for success. ICYOLA is committed to creating an inclusive and supportive community for young people of all races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds who are passionate about music and learning.
MISSION STATEMENT
To cultivate musical expression as a vehicle for personal development, and to bring to fruition the full musical and academic potential of young inner city residents of Los Angeles, Chicago and South Africa.
ICYOLA PROGRAMS ICYOLA Orchestra
Through the ICYOLA Orchestra Program, we present an annual Concert Season of 8-10 concerts that features both the standard orchestral repertoire and contemporary music that resounds within the community from which ICYOLA emanates and that it serves. That Concert Season concludes each year with a Season Finale at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The ICYOLA boasts approximately 125 members aged 10 and above.
Drum Corps
A music education program that provides youth with an opportunity to gain pre-professional percussion training. Learn the fundamentals of drumming, reading music, and musicianship. Practice and learn various drumline styles and techniques as a group.
Accepting beginning to advanced drummers!
South Los Angeles Music Project
The South Los Angeles Music Project – known as “SLAM” – is a program that offers basic music appreciation and understanding to young persons living in the South Los Angeles quadrant encompassed by the 10, 710 and 405 Freeways. Participants in this program are offered beginning music instruction both on instruments and through voice. This program is funded through a generous grant from the County of Los Angeles Probation Department.
South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra
The South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra first formed during the summer of 2019 on the campus of Chicago State University. It emerged from a collaboration with Kenwood Academy, After School Matters and other partners in Chicago. It presented its first concert at the South Shore Cultural Center during August 2019, and continues in development.
WHO WE SERVE
We serve approximately 250 young people aged 10-35 each year, and our constituents (including the musicians who participate in our program and their families, those who attend our concerts, and others) number about 5,000. Approximately 75% of the youth in our programs are African-American; about 20% are Latino; and the remaining self identify as another ethnicity or race. Please visit our website at www.icyola.org to learn more about us.
GOAL
To teach young people in Los Angeles, Chicago, South Africa and other urban cities the great music of the world, provide opportunities for them to perform that music in some of the greatest settings of the world, and prepare them for opportunities to play in major American orchestras.
OBJECTIVE
To learn and perform the great orchestral literature of the world, and equip minority youth, especially African-American and Latino youth, with the tools needed to join major American orchestras; and to present those young people to those orchestras as candidates
STEVEN BRADFORD | STATE SENATOR
Steven Bradford brings a lifetime of experience to the California Legislature. In over two decades of public service – first as a Gardena City Councilmember, then as a State Assemblymember and now as a State Senator. Senator Bradford is the Vice Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus and the Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications. He also serves on the Committee on Public Safety. He is the author of Senate Bill 2, which established California’s first statewide police decertification process.
Bradford grew up in Gardena, where he resides to this day.
Sunday, July 9, 2023 – 3pm
Walt Disney Concert Hall - Los Angeles, CA
Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD - CA State Senator Steven Bradford
Adagietto, from Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler
Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bb minor op. 23 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Featuring Soloist: Terrance Wilson
INTERMISSION
Drum Corps Performance
Tribute to Otis William & the Temptations
Featuring Vocalists: Byron Dodson, Jerel Duren, Phylicia Hill, Rikayah Crawford, Skyler Raye Pugh,Trijean Wilkins
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD- Otis Williams
Act. IV: Finale, Swan Lake op. 20 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Dr. Otis Clayborn Williams, founding member of the world-renowned, Grammy Award-winning group, The Temptations, is a music legend. From award-winning singer, songwriter to critically acclaimed author, from television producer, and Broadway executive producer to executive producer of the group’s new album, Temptations 60, Dr. Williams defied all odds, having gone from the dirt roads of rural Texas to the highest heights of Detroit, Motown, and beyond.
One of the world’s most significant and prolific musical institutions of all time, The Temptations are entertainment giants revered for their enduring catalog of music masterpieces. As the sole surviving member of the original Temptations, Dr. Williams is uniquely one of Detroit’s and America’s national treasures.
Dr. Williams has been and still is the chief architect of The Temptations’ evolution throughout the 20th and 21st centuries and he continues to carry the torch forward for the next generation of Temptations’ fans. Celebrating 60+ years at the forefront of The Temptations, and still performing around the world today, he is a global superstar. Dr. Otis Williams received an honorary degree, Doctorate of Humane Letters, from Stillman College, a historically Black college and university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2006.
Dr. Williams’ personal journey has been documented in his critically acclaimed 1988 autobiography, Temptations, in the Emmy ® award-winning television mini-series, The Temptations, released in 1998, and most recently in the smash hit Broadway musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, which won the 2019 Tony ® Award for Best Choreography. Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations is currently touring across the U.S. this year and next. The electrifying Broadway musical also opened in the UK, in the West End of London at the Prince Edward Theater, on April 20, 2023.
The Temptations, with millions of fans worldwide, are one of the most iconic, bestselling brands in the entertainment world. Ranked #1 in Billboard magazine’s most recent list of the “Greatest R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of All Time,” The Temptations also appear in the magazine’s 125th Anniversary list of the “125 Greatest of All Time Artists.” In addition, Rolling Stone magazine named the group among the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” Among the numerous awards and honors, the group has received five Grammy® Awards, including the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Grammy® Award.
The Temptations delivered Motown’s and their first-ever, GRAMMY® for their song, “Cloud Nine.” They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. “My Girl,” what many may call their magnum opus, was inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame in 1998, followed by “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” a year later in 1999. In 2018, the Library of Congress announced the induction of their mega-hit, “My Girl” into the National Recording Registry. Blockbuster #1 chart hits “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me),” “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone,” and “My Girl” are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” The Temptations have received more than 50 gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards all combined for their chart hits, many of which are considered American masterpieces.
TERRENCE WILSON | PIANIST
Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and many more.
An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society.
Terrence Wilson has received numerous awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has also been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. In 2011, Wilson was nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Instrumental Soloist with an Orchestra” for his (world premiere) recording with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero of Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra - written for Wilson in 2007.
Terrence Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar. A native of the Bronx, he resides in Montclair, New Jersey. In March 2021, Wilson was appointed to the piano faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music.
VOCALISTS
Byron Dodson
Jerel Duren
Phylicia Hill
Rikayah Crawford
Skyler Raye Pugh
Trijean Wilkins
RHYTHM SECTION
Bradford Tidwell
Don Brown
Isaac Green
Wendell Phipps
FLUTES
Brandon Ramirez
Joshua Childress
Kiera Banks
Leah Marcelle
Mackenzie Thomson
Makaiya Bedford
Sophia Mercado
OBOES
Alfonso Pimentel
Neil Cole
CLARINETS
Dwayne Burrell
Ednaldo Alves
Lex Sasaki
Lyric Mestel
BASSOONS
Braxton Porter
Kieran Mulligan
Rida Wasaf
HORNS
Ethan de Leon
Farah Abdulah
Madison Dorsett
Malik Taylor
Noah Linton
Paul Loredo
Samantha Monsma
Jaden Upshaw
TRUMPETS
Brandon Samuels
Brandyn Phillips
Carlee Powell-Mann
Daniel Kim
Joshua Mercado
Marcus Paul
SehnRa Brooks
Stephan Brooks
William Parada
TROMBONES
Brianna Aponte
Chanelle Davis
Jacob Justiss
Jason Farr
Khamalia Williams
Sean Davis
BASS TROMBONE
Nicholas Perez
TUBAS
Colin Henderson
Huayo Vargas
Jacqueline Brown
PERCUSSION
Aidan Anderson
Don Brown
Joey Muscat
Kaman Richardson
Shota Hanai
HARP
Liesl Erman
VIOLIN 1
Amber Daughtry *
Beatrice Padilla
Brandon Glasgow
Carlos Arredondo
Erynn Hill
Jacqueline Tringov
Jeffrey Arredondo
Jordan Busa
LaVern Antoine
Namiah Miller
Raymond Alvarado
Simeon Brown
Simone Deleon Pina
Wynton Grant
Yuliana Lagunas
VIOLIN 2
Alex Wayman
Anneke Dean
Ashley Molina
Bella Singh
Brenda Leyva
Britany Perez
Cameron Davis
Darius Dudley
Faith Manio
Jenni Asher
Kevon Fortune
Marit Asrat
Matthew Dudley
Mya Melvin
Nadir Williams
Nyla Goodjoin
Deonna Pope
Therry Malone
VIOLAS
Ashley Diggs
Caleb Asrat
Chad Jackson
Darrel Sims
Emily Che
Gayle Adkins-McDonald
Isiah Hughes
Kenya Nelson
Lorena Garcia
VIOLINCELLOS
Benton Preciado
Brittany Arredondo
Christine Kivi
Circe Diaz Gomero
Elijah Brooks
Emiko Wong
Estrella Perez
Jaden Mehrdad
Janiyah Fortune
Kaleb Victor
Kenechi Fortune
Myles Yeazell
STRING BASS
Daniel Romo
DaQuan Robinson
Harvey Estrada
Isaac Green
Jeremy Wright
Natalie Guerra
Nedra Wheeler
Trevor Ware
VOCALISTS
Byron Dodson
Jerel Duren
Phylicia Hill
Rikayah Crawford
Skyler Raye Pugh
Trijean Wilkins
RHYTHM SECTION
Bradford Tidwell
Don Brown
Isaac Green
Wendell Phipps
PIANO SOLOIST
Terrence Wilson
The Inner City Youth Orchestra wishes to give special thanks to the following people who have been an instrumental part of ICYOLA for many years and given extraordinary service to make certain that today's 15th Season Finale Concert is the grand success that it is
Charles “Chuck” Dickerson III , Founder, Executive Director & Conductor
Akilah Morgan, Director of Programs
Melana Byars, Executive Assistant
Dwayne Burrell, Assistant Conductor
Treniece Ward, Rehearsal & Music Coordinator
Hannah Innis, Intern
Karan Innis, Summer Assistant
Isiah Hughes, Summer Office Assistant
John Jackson, ICYOLA Development Consultant
Nichole Smith, ICYOLA Social Media Coordinator
Sheldon Steier, Development Director
Ronald Tyson, Drum Corps Director
Ian Brown, Drum Corps Assistant Director
JoVaughn Curry, Drum Corps Assistant
LaVern Antoine, Music Instructor
Amber Daughtry, Music Instructor
Benton Preciado, Music Instructor
Malik Taylor, LA Orchestra Fellow
Myles Yeazell, LA Orchestra Fellow
A Very Special Acknowledgment to our Performers who shared their musical gifts with us. The Production team behind the documentary “The Orchestra that Chuck Built”
A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO
Margo Wade LaDrew, President & CEO of Wade & Associates Group and ICYOLA Consultant
Jody Gilbert, President, Kolorgraphix | Graphic Designer
Michelle Johnson / On Track Virtual Services, LLC
WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL HOUSE STAFF
Charlie Miledi, Master Carpenter
Marcus Conroy, Master Electrician
John Phillips, Master of Properties
Kevin Wapner, Master Audio
Sharon F. Stewart, Director, Scheduling & Events
Marisol M Garcia, Scheduling & Lease Events Administrator
Colin Perkins, Lease Events Manager
Jason Clark, Director of Production
Katie Miller, Production Manager
Lisa Quang, Production Coordinator
Spencer Saccoman, Project Production Manager
Greg Flusty, House Manager
Jenny Calvo, Jose Garibaldi, Courtney Rabena and Jose Rivas, Head Ushers
The stage crew, wardrobe crew, makeup artists, hair stylists, and box office staff are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States of America and Canada, AFL-CIO, CKC, Local Numbers 33, 768, 706 and 857, respectively.
The House Managers employed by the Music Center are represented by the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers.
