RIO GRANDE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Fall Concert ~ 2022 • 2023 Season
UTRGV Performing Arts Complex, Edinburg Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 6:00 pm
Dr. Norman Gamboa, Conductor Dr. Diana Seitz, Violin
Hungarian March from “The Damnation of Faust”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Edited by Clark McAlister
Romance for Violin in F major, Op. 50. . . . .Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Polovtsian Dances from “Prince Igor”. . . . . . . .Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) Edited by Carl Simpson
Souvenir de Porto Rico “Marche des Gibaros”, Op 31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louis Gottschalk (1829-1869) Edited by Thor Johnson
For a better concert experience, we kindly ask you to turn off cellular phones, pagers, and all types of noise makers.
Dr. DIANA SEITZ Violin immediately captivated!” – James VanDemark, Eastman School of Music.
Born into a family of professional singers, Diana grew up backstage, traveling with her parents’ rock band all over the former Soviet Union. She made her debut at the age of nine as a soloist with a Chamber Orchestra in Moscow, Russia. As a teenager, she went on to become a laureate of the Azerbaijan National Young Musician’s Competition, performing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic, including a fiendishly difficult Cadenza by E. Sauret. A refugee, forced to leave her Homeland after severe ethnic persecution, Diana stepped off an airplane onto US soil in 1993 and never looked back. She has performed all around the US, including solo appearances with the Valley Symphony Orchestra (Edinburg, TX), Kansas City Civic Orchestra, Kinnor Philharmonic Orchestra, Grassroots Festival Orchestra (PA), Endless Mountain Music Festival Symphony Orchestra (Corning, NY), and the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra (PA). Diana has also been featured as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Turkmenistan on the soundtrack of revolutionary VR immersive documentary “1991”. Her upcoming engagements include her Carnegie Hall debut recital scheduled for Spring 2022. Diana’s international career has taken her to the concert halls of Russia, France and Italy and garnered the highest praise of her colleagues: “…fabulous technical control, with remarkable facility and intonation and extremely sophisticated bow arm, I was
Dr. Seitz is a graduate of Moscow Conservatory, where she studied with a student of renowned Russian violinist David Oistrakh. She continued her studies in the United States with Felicia Moye - a student of Ivan Galamian and a former first violinist of Miami String Quartet. Dr. Seitz is presently serving as Violin Faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, TX, where she resides with her husband and the youngest of her three children. Apart from her position at UTRGV, Diana’s teaching experience includes Meadowmount School of Music (Westport, NY) Kinhaven Summer School of Music (Weston, VT), Endless Mountain Music Festival (Mansfield, PA), and InterHarmony Music Festival (Acqui Terme, Italy). Dr. Seitz has also conducted numerous master classes at venues in the US, Russia and Europe, including the Russian Institute of Culture (Moscow, Russia), Instituto Musicale “Boccherini” (Lucca, Italy), InterHarmony Music Festival (Acqui Terme, Italy), and Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental Claude Debussy (Paris, France). A strong believer in increasing accessibility to classical music for all, Diana has begun creating videos featuring the classical violin style on various social media platforms. Several of her recent videos have ranked first out of millions of posts under multiple trending hashtags. Diana’s fast-growing YouTube channel Seitz String Pros has also allowed her to connect with audiences in both the U.S. and abroad. Falling in step with her passion for connection and community, Seitz was a featured speaker at TEDx McAllen in November of 2019. Her TED talk, titled “A Refugee’s Journey from Carnage to Carnegie Hall”, shares her life story and brings awareness to the plight of refugees in the USA and around the world. In 2012, Seitz recorded and released three singles, including concert crowd pleaser “Amazing Grace”. These can be found on iTunes, Spotify and other online retailers. Diana plays a 1759 Paolo Testore violin.
( listed in alphabetical order ) VIOLIN
Diego Aguilar, McAllen Lianne De Vera, Edinburg Katelynn Ferreira, McAllen Matteo Houston*, Weslaco Elisa Martinez, McAllen Carissa Padilla, Pharr Frances Pepito, Edinburg Eliava Taw, Harlingen Elizabeth Taw #, Harlingen Ethan Taw, Harlingen Eliot Taw, Harlingen
FLUTE & PICCOLO Laura Barba*+, Mission Yaelin Padron, Donna Evelyn Villalon, Donna
TROMBONE Gilbert Ramirez*, Donna Christopher Saenz, Brownsville Veronica Williams, Brownsville
OBOE Isabella Guevarra*, Brownsville Joshua Pardo, McAllen Arielle Torres, Edinburg
TUBA Sergio Colorado*, Harlingen
CLARINET Luis Rangel, Brownsville Noe Reyes*, Brownsville
VIOLA Valeria delosSantos-Llanas, Pharr AlejandraBernardoPiñon, Edinburg Chennah Kim, Harlingen BASSOON Chevin Kim, Harlingen Daniel Ramirez, Mission Lucian Lopez*, Harlingen Jazzmin Torres*, Edinburg Harley Massey, Harlingen CELLO Adair Corpuz, Edinburg Emma Escobar, Rio Grande Ashlynn Guzman, San Benito Sophie Janssen, Edinburg Nathan Mowers*, Harlingen
HORN Jeremiah Gonzalez, Mission Elijah Robledo, Brownsville Reynaldo Calderon, Mission Victor Martinez*, Edinburg
TRUMPET Mikel Castillo, Brownsville DOUBLE BASS Henry Elizondo, Edinburg Maximiliano Lopez, Edinburg Joshua Lira*, Edinburg Vianeth Bernardo Piñon, Edinburg Sarah Martinez*, Mission
TIMPANI & PERCUSSION Victoria Garcia*, McAllen Peter Ney+, Edinburg Jose R. Salinas III+, Edinburg Kathleen Camero+, Los Fresnos MUSIC DIRECTOR Dr. Norman Gamboa ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS Manuel Monge-Mata Andrew Stallman
#Concertmaster * Denotes first chair +Denotes guest player