Olympic Youth Strings

a non-profit organization for all ages, dedicated

to promoting string orchestral and chamber music

on the Olympic Peninsula

Dr. Alan Rawson, director

 

OYStrs Youth Ensemble Board

Watch this space for important information links

 

OYStrs Youth Ensemble

 

Youth Ensemble Audition Material

 

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Practice Notes and other items

 

Public Domain Scores uploaded to 

www.imslp.org Check it out!

 

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Return to Rawson Class Page

 

 

Alan Rawson first pursued his music interests in his junior year in high school as a self-taught folk guitarist, recorder player, and madrigal singer. Classical Violin studies were begun at Cańada Junior College in Redwood City California, since their program did not include Country and Western fiddling. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees from San Francisco State University and completed his doctorate degree at the University of Colorado in Boulder in violin performance studying with Oswald Lehnert while developing a passionate interest in Rocky Mountain cycling and cross country skiing. He has served on the music faculties of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and the University of Idaho in Moscow, and is currently on extended  leave from  Minnesota State University Moorhead where he directed the University Orchestra and taught upper strings. He was concertmaster of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony for twenty years and appeared as a featured orchestral soloist several times performing works by Tchaikowsky, Mozart, Sibelius, and Bruch, among others. Since moving to the Northwest in 2004, Alan has been an active performer and organizer of music projects and workshops for students and adults. He and his wife, Sandy have given numerous recitals on college campuses and community performing arts series across the United States and Canada, specializing in Romantic and early twentieth-century works for violin and piano. The Rawsons now reside in Chimacum, WA where they teach and perform out of their home.

contact Dr. Alan Rawson

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The Rawson Duo Concert Series, 2008-9

 

Rawson Duo Concerts Reviewed

 

 

Article written for the February, 2009 Port Ludlow Village Voice by Bernard Super

 

 

Upcoming events

 

 

Chateau Pierné

(a hint of Cabernet Franck with a visit to the Follies)

Friday, May 22 and Sunday, May 24

2 pm

 

On Friday, May 22 and Sunday, May 24, 2 pm the Rawson Violin and Piano Duo will present at their Chimacum home a concert celebrating the life and work of Gabriel Pierné.

 

Organist successor to the great Cesar Franck, premier conductor of Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet, composer and performer, Pierné’s life and work embraces the thriving musical scene of Paris in the late-eighteen and early-nineteen hundreds. His violin sonata, Op. 36, included on the program, is to-die-for gorgeous, and "the Follies" of the subtitle refers to his Impression de Music Hall, Op. 47, a colorful and sparkling mix of girls, clowns, eccentrics and lots of table wine (needed for the slapstick, hyper-technical feats). A sampling of Pierne's piano pieces, transcribed for violin and piano, along with his Nocturne en Forme de Valse, Op. 40 No. 2 will complete the portrait of this ecclectic artist.


To complement the great music, Sandy will once again apply her international culinary skills with French pastries and hors d'oeuvres.

Admission is by advanced paid reservation, $20 per seat. Please contact Alan or Sandy Rawson, email rawson@waypoint.com or phone 379-3449. Checks should made payable to: Dr. Alan Rawson, 10318 Rhody Drive, Chimacum WA 98325

Upon payment receipt, a confirmation email will be sent including directions.

For those interested in coming from across the Hood Canal during the bridge closure, we will try to assist with transportation from the passenger ferry to the concert. Please phone for more information.

More information about Pierné and listening links

 

 

 Recent Concerts, Rawson Duo Programs:

 

 

The Complete Hungarian Dances

by Johannes Brahms

 arranged for violin and piano by

Joseph Joachim

 

Friday, April 24 and Sunday, April 26 / 

2 pm  

 

program

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Music of Albéniz, Nin, Falla, and Turina for violin and piano

  Friday, March 20 and Sunday, March 22 / 2 pm  

 

program

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Rawson Duo and Friends

 

performing

 

Brahms and Dvořák

 

music of the soul for piano and strings

 

  

  

 

at the Rawson Home in Chimacum

Friday, February 20 & Sunday, February 22, 2 pm

 

and

 

at the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center

Saturday, February 21, 7:30 pm

program

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Nordlys:

 Spotlight on Jean Sibelius

works for violin and piano

 Friday, December 29 and January 9

 2 pm

 Program copy

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Má Vlast

from my homeland 

 
Czech music of the Romantic Era
 
works by
 
Dvořák, Janáček, Smetana, Suk
 
Friday, November 14, and Sunday, November 16

(Sandy's Czech Goodies)

program copy

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Mad Dogs and Englishmen 

 

music of

 

Percy Grainger, Cyril Scott, and Frederick Delius

 

Friday, October 3, 2 pm and  Sunday, October 5, 4 pm

Program copy

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Tales of the Vienna Woods

 

(Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald)

  

violin and piano works by

 

 Schubert, Johann Strauss Jr., Fritz Kreisler and more

 

Friday, May 16, 2 p.m. and Sunday, May 18, 4 p.m.  

Program Copy

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From Russia with Love

 violin and piano treasures of a bygone era

music by

Mussorgsky, Balakiriev, Rimsky-Korsakov, 

Rachmaninov, Komitas, Kachaturian

and Tchaikovsky

April 11 & 13

 

Program Copy

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  The French Connection

French Masterworks

for violin and piano

 

music by

 

Jean Françaix, Erik Satie, Arthur Honegger

and Claude Debussy  

February 15 & 22, 2008

 Program Copy

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Nordlys

(Northern Lights: Scandinavian Masterworks for violin and piano)

December 21 & 28, 2007

(Listen to a sample of their CD recording of this project)

(Nordlys Program Copy)

CD available for purchase

 

OYStrs Youth Ensemble Spring Concert

June 20, 2008 at Seaport Landing in Port Townsend

and

June 21 at the Rawson home

Pictured from left to right performing at the Rawson home: 

Elizabeth McKinnon, Sydney Sharpe, Kim Walters, Ian Rawson, Christina Walters, and Madeline Levy

Program Copy 

Press release with details about their spring program

 

 

 

Thursday, May 24, 7:30 pm 2007

Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

 

OYStrs Youth Ensemble

 

 

A celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach

(program copy)

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

 

OYStrs Benefit Concert

with the Rawson Violin and Piano Duo

Journey Europa

Friday, March 9, 7 pm 2007

Copy of Program

 

OYStrs Benefit Concert

with the Rawson Violin and Piano Duo

January Escape

Friday, January 19, 7 pm 2007

Copy of Program

 

 

OYStrs Youth Ensemble

Sunday, January 28 2007

Cape George Colony Club House

 

 

Copy of Program

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olympic Chamber Orchestra

performs in Chimacum

April 14, 2007

 

The Olympic Chamber Orchestra presented a concert of classical string orchestral works on Saturday, April 14 at the Chimacum High School Auditorium.

 

Featured on the program was the ensemble director, Dr. Alan Rawson performing the Armenian inspired, rich and prayerful Talin Concerto for viola and strings by long time Seattle Symphony resident composer, Alan Hovhaness. Other works included  J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in a world premier arrangement for full string orchestra by Dr. Rawson, and Finale from  Tchaikowsky's Serenade for string orchestra. 

 

Joining the orchestra for the final piece was Port Angeles Symphony principal flutist, Sharon Snell and principal oboist Ann Krabill in a performance of Franz Joseph Haydn’s superb classical masterpiece, Symphony No. 104 arranged for flute, piano, and strings by the famous London concert violinist of Haydn’s time, Peter Solomon.

Program Copy

 

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Past Announcements and Concerts, 2006 and Before

September 2006

September String Workshop Performance featuring guest violinist Michael Barta

Press Release / Performance Photo / Program Copy: 

 

Olympic Chamber Orchestra in rehearsal at the Rawson Home, September 2006

Program from Benefit Recital, 9/21/06

 

 

OYSTRS Gives Mother's Day Concert in PT

Sunday, May 14 2006 at San Juan Baptist Church, 1704 Discovery Rd. in Port Townsend starting at 4 pm. Free Admission

Their program included Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, along with works by Telemann and Camillo d'Alessio and Vivaldi's Baroque masterpiece, the concerto in B minor for four violins.

 

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By popular Demand!

Encore performance

Rawson Duo

benefit concert

for the

Olympic Youth Strings (OYStrs)  

Friday, April 21, 6 pm 2006

 

Performing the complete (21) Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, arranged by his close friend and associate, violinist Joseph Joachim

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Concert information: 

Fall 2005 OYStrs Program 

given at Cape George Club House on Sunday, December 11, 2005

 

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Olympic Chamber Orchestra

November 2005

Olympic Chamber Orchestra

with Walter Schwede, guest artist

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A Washington State Non-Profit Corporation qualified under Sec. 501 (c) (3) of the IRC

10318 Rhody Drive, Chimacum WA 98325

OYStrs and Olympic Chamber Orchestra are registered trade names of Olympic Youth Strings

 

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