A Cross-Cultural Celebration of European & Asian Music at a Free Youth Concert

The Orchestre Giovanili Festival (Youth Orchestra Festival) continues this week in Piazza della Signoria. Taking the stage next will be the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Lorenzo Antonio Iosco with violin soloist Paloma So. On Sunday, August 9, the second to last performance in the series will begin at 9 pm in front of the historic Loggia dei Lanzi portico. 

The Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) is one of China’s most esteemed musical associations. It is an organization not only dedicated to performance, but committed to raising a generation of skilled musicians from the special administrative region of Macau. From primary school to university, MYSO offers its students the opportunity to develop themselves as artists and form lasting friendships in the music community. This year marks the 29th anniversary of the orchestra and they are going stronger than ever with a week-long tour throughout Italy spanning seven nights in seven cities.

Maestro Lorenzo Antonio Iosco is an Italian clarinettist and conductor born in Potenza and raised in Tuscany. He studied music at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, which he considers to be one of his adopted homes. Today Iosco is based in Hong Kong where he plays as the Associate Principal Bass Clarinet in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Accompanying MYSO and Maestro Iosco will be violinist Paloma So. Listed on Classical FM’s “30 under 30 rising stars,” the 20 year-old musician has an impressive career with a bright future ahead. In the past she has performed with international ensembles such as the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony, and the China Philharmonic. Currently, So is a student of the Harvard-New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program. 

Sunday’s concert will be a cross-cultural celebration of renowned European composers and contemporary Asian music. Opening will be a performance of Guia, the Lighthouse of Macao by Doming Lam, “the father of Hong Kong modern music.” This is to be followed by Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 and Gioachino Rossini’s Overture from The Barber of Seville. The evening will finish with another piece by Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 90, titled Italiana. 

After MYSO, the free youth concerts of the Orchestre Giovanili Festival come to a close on Wednesday, August 26 with the final performance from Germany’s Jugendsinfonieorchester der Musikschule Bochum. 

(Francesca Negri)