Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

Bass

Madeline Bower (Marietta High School)

Cecilia Clarke (Decatur High School)

Ethan Huang (Chamblee High School)

Alex Na (The Westminster Schools)

Audrey Nguyen (Alpharetta High School)

Connor Oneacre (Milton High School)

Hazel Patty (Decatur High School)

Richard Zhou (North Gwinnett High School)*

** Indicates concertmaster

* Indicates principal

Alexandra Tarassenko, flute

Alexandra (Sasha) Tarassenko is a flutist in the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony. In addition to winning the 2023 Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, she has also won Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 Concerto Competition and will be performing with them next season. In 2022, Tarassenko received first place in the Atlanta Flute Club Competition High School Division.

This past summer, Tarassenko attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) Young Artist Orchestra Program and the Flute Workshop. At BUTI in Lenox, Massachusetts, she performed as principal flute in the Young Artist Orchestra in Sergei Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony and Paul Hindemith’s Metamorphosis. Tarassenko also attended the Eastern Music Festival (EMF) in summer 2021. At EMF in Greensboro, North Carolina, she performed Charles Tomlinson Griffes’s Poem for Flute and Piano, was principal flute in the Orchestra for Antonín Dvořák’s 7th Symphony, and piccolo in the Orchestra for Hindemith’s Metamorphosis and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony.

Tarassenko has had the opportunity to play in masterclasses for Cynthia Meyers, Linda Toote, Keith Underwood, Carol Wincenc, and Mimi Stillman. She is also a learning and media lab fellow for National Public Radio’s From The Top and will be interviewed on the show in a future episode. As a Russian American, Tarassenko participates in the Atlanta

Balalaika Society Orchestra, an Eastern European, community folk ensemble that regularly performs in local venues.

Tarassenko is currently a senior at Paul Duke STEM High School, where she founded her Tri-M Music Honors Society, and studies with Christina Smith, the principal flute of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In her spare time, Tarassenko researches inequality in classical music ensembles, attends Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concerts with her mother, tutors children on the flute, and solves crosswords with her family.

Paul Bhasin, conductor

Paul Bhasin serves as director of orchestral studies at Emory University where he holds the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Professorship in Music. In this capacity, he conducts the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, oversees music research programs, and teaches conducting. Praised for his “crisp, clear” conducting and “highly expressive” interpretations, Bhasin’s career began when he won the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition in 1998. Bhasin serves as music director and conductor of both the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival and has recently led the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, American Youth Philharmonic, Williamsburg Symphony, performances at Interlochen, the Kennedy Center, and throughout the People’s Republic of China. He has also led performances as a guest conductor with members of the Richmond Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and with honor orchestras and bands (including at the all-state level). He has presented at national conferences including the Midwest Orchestra Clinic and the National Music Teachers Association Conference. As a trumpeter, he performed and recorded with the Virginia Symphony and Opera; Columbus (Ohio) Symphony; New World Symphony; the Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and at the music festivals of Aspen, Tanglewood, and Ravinia; and as a soloist on National Public Radio, Detroit PBS-TV, the International Computer Music Conference, and at the International Dvořák Festival (Prague, Czech Republic), and his trumpet students have won first prize at major competitions including the National Trumpet Competition. Bhasin has recorded as trumpeter and conductor for both the Centaur and Interscope record labels. Bhasin’s compositions, transcriptions, and arrangements are published by Carl Fischer Music and have been praised by the New York Times and Chicago Tribune with recent performances by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Opera Theater, and the Grand Tetons Festival Orchestra. He received his musical training from Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin.

Schwartz Center Staff

Rachael Brightwell, Managing Director

Terry Adams, Box Office Coordinator

Lisa Baron, Communications Specialist

Kathryn Colegrove, Associate Director for Programming and Outreach

Lewis Fuller, Associate Director for Production and Operations

Jennifer Kimball, Assistant Stage Manager

Jeff Lenhard, Operations Assistant

Alan Strange, Box Office Manager

Nicholas Surbey, Senior Graphic Designer

Alexandria Sweatt, Marketing Assistant

Mark Teague, Stage Manager

Nina Vestal, House Manager

Matt Williamson, Multimedia Specialist

The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz. To support this program, visit schwartz.emory.edu/give.