By Anne W. Semmes
For over six decades the Young Artists Philharmonic (YAP) has been providing hundreds of young people in Greenwich and surrounding areas the opportunity to both express themselves with music and to let music “into their hearts.” Those last words are from Philharmonic board member, Melinda Chen who adds, “I can’t tell you how much my kids have blossomed with music. It’s in everything they do. If you look at in school how creative they are, it all stems from music.”
Chen tells of her son, now 16 and studying at Julliard, of first being drawn to music. “And then [sister] Emma came along and somehow amongst the instruments that my son played, violin was her voice.” And now age 13, Emma Maini, a Rye Country Day School student, is a Middle School Finalist having competed with her violin in the Greenwich Symphony Teen Talent Competition.
“I love being part of a community of peers who share my passion,” shares Maini, “of creating beautiful music while motivating each other to perform at our best.”
To celebrate these young musicians the Young Artists Philharmonic, now at 62 years, is hosting a gala dinner at the Greenwich Water Club on September 19, wherein Greenwich’s Ambassador at Large Bea Crumbine will be honored for her ongoing support of the Young Artists.
“I am looking forward to being the honored guest for the Young Artist Philharmonic,” says Crumbine. “There is such importance to music education for children and I have happily given of time and interest to the Philharmonic over the years to further this end. Greenwich and Stamford can be very proud of the music which is being produced.”
“Bea has a very strong connection to music, and she’s been an opera singer,” tells Rainer Busch, who heads the Board of the Philharmonic. “She’s been a friend of the YAP for many years, and she has done a lot of things for this town and for this community.”
The story goes it was Crumbine who introduced the Young Artists Philharmonic to the London Philharmonic as sharing beneficiaries of a concert given by the London Philharmonic at the Palace Theater in Stamford a few years ago.
Busch recalls the grand year the Young Artists performed at Carnegie Hall, when his twin girls, Isabella and Fiona now in college were just starting out as ten-year-old’s. “They were with the orchestra for a long time.” (And they are now known as entrepreneurs in helping others.)
Busch sees those years with YAP as having given his daughters “the discipline of practicing and also teamwork. It gives them a sense of accomplishment because you start to play something, it’s difficult, it doesn’t sound right. And then a little bit later it sounds great and you’re very proud of it. So that was something that boosted their self-esteem to some extent as well.”
For Busch, YAP is “a way to help children, to educate them and enrich them and inspire them through music. And I think that music is this universal language. People always say that art is the shortest way from one person to the other and music is art and is really allowing all that. That’s a fantastic gift that we can give young children. It has a very significant impact on the way they grow. And what for us is very important is that we as an orchestra enable through scholarships to offer this opportunity to play to anyone regardless of economic constraints. That’s a very important part of our mission to be able to do that.”
Surely at that Carnegie Hall Young Artist Philharmonic concert in 2015, there was one attendee quite over the moon, the now late founder of the Young Artists, Salvatore “Sal” Princiotti. “Sal actually was a Greenwich Public School music teacher,” tells Maria Stich who also serves on the YAP board as treasurer. “He taught in middle school, and Fred Camillo and Peter Tesei had him as their teacher when they were young.”
And YAP is “following the formula of Sal Princiotti,” says Stich, with its construct of four ensembles: Young Strings, Flute Choir, YAP Chamber Music and Young Artists Philharmonic. And leading that last ensemble is proud 13-year-old Emma Maini. “YAP has provided me,” she shares, “with a unique leadership opportunity at a young age, leading a group of talented musicians as concertmistress in their most prestigious level orchestra.”
“We have them as young as seven or eight years old,” tells Stich, “If they’ve been trained and they can read music – all the way to high school graduation.” Her two sons served in the orchestra, the youngest being a violin student of Sal Princiotti. “Even one of the members of the Greenwich Symphony, Carla Fabiani said to me, “My God, Mr. Princiotti was the first one to put a violin in my hand!” And yes, Stich learned a member of the London Philharmonic had gotten her start with Princiotti. “Music has no boundaries apparently,” Stich notes, “So, this very humble man’s shadow is large.”
Darwin Shen has conducted the Young Strings ensemble for four years. “I really love the mission of the organization,” he says, “which is to allow students to perform together and do things together musically.” He recalls first coming to Greenwich in the 1980’s and meeting up, age 16, with Princiotti when he was already a legend. “Are you interested in auditioning for a solo,” Princiotti had asked, and after a mini competition Shen was chosen. Across the decades Shen has seen the Philharmonic travel as far as Rome, Italy.
Shen has a penchant for enlisting his young string players in a variety of music. “We had my friend, Jean Valjean who was a Broadway singer – he was actually in Les Misérables – come and sing with them. We did an aria from Les Misérables – it was really cool.” And “Last year, we had the issue with Ukraine, so we played some Ukrainian music. So, I try to keep it topical.”
Those interested in attending the September 19 Young Artists Philharmonic gala at the Greenwich Water Club, can email maria.stich@youngartistsphil.org.
