PVS Youth Orchestra Spring Concert

APRIL 8, 2022 • 7:00 PM



FRONTIER REGIONAL SCHOOL
AUDITORIUM



PVSOC.ORG • 413.773.3664



FROM THE BOARD

KARA PETERMAN

As some of you know, this is Steven
Bathory-Peeler's last concert as PVS
Youth Orchestra Director. Steve has been
part of the PVS community for decades,
beginning with his time as Assistant Conductor of the PVS
Orchestra under Maestro Paul Phillips 2001–2004, and
continuing as YO director 2017–2022.

Please join me in recognizing Steve's years of skilled,
thoughtful, and caring musical leadership by joining the
students and families in the lobby after this concert to
celebrate Steve, the hard work of students from the PVS Youth
Orchestra and Frontier Regional School strings programs, and
the coming of summer.

The Pioneer Valley Symphony began our 83rd season bringing
concert recordings to our audiences online, and recently
celebrated our return to live concerts with a beautiful concert,
Fire & Rebirth, ruminating on the experience of the pandemic
and raising funds for refugees fleeing the ongoing crisis in
Ukraine. We will be publishing a video of that concert shortly;
join our mailing list in the lobby or on our website to be the
first to know!

Coming up, the PVSO presents Wild Symphony, a streaming
family concert with book and music by NYT Bestseller Dan
Brown. The concert will be available to view online April 18–29.
Visit pvsoc.org to reserve your access by donation.

Please support our efforts in accessible community arts
programming by joining the Continuo Society, a highly
impactful way of providing financial support through
automatic recurring donations, by visiting our website or
calling 413.773.3664. Thank you for your support.

Kara Peterman
President

Thank You

FOR FIVE YEARS OF
EXTRAORDINARY LEADERSHIP

PVSOC.ORG/SHOP

SHOW YOUR PVS PRIDE
AND SUPPORT THE
YOUTH ORCHESTRA
& OTHER PROGRAMS.

FROM THE DIRECTOR
STEVEN BATHORY-PEELER


Welcome, family members and friends:

I'm delighted to present the PVSYO Spring
Concert in collaboration with Susan Matsui and
the Frontier Regional School String Ensembles.
Tonight we celebrate our musicians, their love
of music, and the hard work that has gone into preparing this

concert. In particular, we honor the high school seniors who are

performing with us for the last time.

I’d like to bring your attention to a few of the musical selections
on today’s program. The Renaissance Dance Ballet will be
performed jointly by the musicians of the PVSYO and the Frontier
Music Department. These arrangements have been skillfully
crafted by Susan Matsui. The Haydn selection is historically
significant in music history in that there is an enlightening story
behind its nickname—a story that will be revealed during the
performance. “Take Five” is also a famous piece of music, but for
an entirely different reason; from the album “Time Out,” this
piece helped the Dave Brubeck Quartet march into history by
being the first jazz group to sell a million copies of an album.
Lastly, the Rumanian Folk Dances by Béla Bartók are a wonderful
set of seven short dances from Transylvania that shine a light on
the folk music from that region and also highlight Bartók’s
compositional style.

Thank you to all the musicians and families of the YO, the PVS
staff, the and Board of Directors. Tonight marks the end of my
directorship of the YO and I am sincerely grateful to have had the
opportunity to make music with these fine young people for the
past five years. While I am stepping down from this position, I
look forward to seeing you from a new perspective—that of an
audience member.

I have enjoyed each and every moment with you. I leave you with
one last charge: practice!

Steven Bathory-Peeler
Director, Pioneer Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra

FROM THE DIRECTOR

SUSAN MATSUI

Welcome, family members and friends:

We’re so glad that you have come to share
an evening of music with us!

It is a great pleasure to welcome the
Pioneer Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra
to perform at Frontier Regional School tonight. We are thrilled
that they have invited the Frontier Strings to open the concert
and also to play one piece together with them. It has been an
amazing experience for our students to meet and hear other
serious young musicians from the area and to make music
together under the baton of conductor Steven Bathory-Peeler.

I always feel that music tells a story, whether it is the kind of
story that can be put into words or the kind that can only be
understood by the heart. In strings class, we sometimes talk
about what kind of story we are trying to tell in a given piece.
Sometimes we brainstorm and come up with a word or phrase
that puts us in the right frame of mind for that piece. One of
my scores has “mahogany and dark chocolate” scrawled across
the top. Our first three pieces on tonight’s program follow an
actual storyline, one that you will recognize immediately: “first
comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the
baby carriage!” The Renaissance dances tell their own stories,
in colors, moods, light, and darkness. I am looking forward to
listening to the other pieces on the program and hearing in my
heart what they have to tell.

I would like to thank the Frontier Regional School
administration and custodial staff, the Pioneer Valley
Symphony Board and staff, and everyone else who helped
make this concert possible.

I hope you enjoy the music!

Best,
Sue Matsui





ABOUT THE ENSEMBLES

Founded in 2013, THE PIONEER VALLEY SYMPHONY YOUTH
ORCHESTRA (PVSYO) is made up of student musicians from schools
across the region, including Hampshire and Franklin counties and
southern Vermont and New Hampshire. The PVSYO is an ensemble
of talented, hard-working elementary-, middle-, and high-school-age
musicians. We have an orbiting team of dedicated family members,
professional musicians, and educators, including Youth Orchestra
Director Steven Bathory-Peeler and Youth Orchestra Manager Casey
Gilman.

The PVSYO rehearses weekly on Sundays, 5-7PM, at Greenfield High
School. The PVSYO performs with the Pioneer Valley Symphony
Orchestra in at least one concert each season, holds an independent
concert each semester, and takes a performance tour of local
schools each spring.

To learn more about the PVS Youth Orchestra, or schedule an
audition, please visit our website at pvsoc.org/youth-orchestra, email
us at [email protected], or call 413.773.3664.

FRONTIER REGIONAL SCHOOL STRINGS PROGRAM The strings
program at Frontier Regional School includes a middle school
strings class and a high school orchestra class. Both groups rehearse
on odd-numbered days.

In the Frontier strings program, we value creativity and creative
thought. The whole group often brainstorms to come up with
exciting performance ideas or to solve problems. We experiment
with improvisation, and there are several student composers among
the high school strings students. We hope in upcoming concerts to
perform some of their music.

The middle school strings have formed a fiddle band called “The
Flying Jackrabbits,” which will perform at local elementary schools,
libraries, and farmer’s markets beginning on April 29th. The Flying
Jackrabbits learn all of their tunes by heart, giving them the freedom
to play whenever and wherever the mood strikes. There is room in
both strings groups for a few more string players! We hope that our
fun and joyful music will inspire other Frontier students to come
back to the stringed instruments they started in elementary school
and join us!

SPRING CONCERT

WITH FRONTIER REGIONAL SCHOOL
STRING ENSEMBLES

Friday, April 8 • 7:00 pm
Frontier Regional School Auditorium

FRONTIER REGIONAL SCHOOL STRING ENSEMBLES

SUSAN MATSUI, DIRECTOR

FIDDLE BAND "THE FLYING JACKRABBITS" (MIDDLE SCHOOL)

OH, WHISTLE AND I'LL COME trad. Scottish
TO YOU, MY LOVE /
MAIRI'S WEDDING

FRONTIER STRING ORCHESTRA (HIGH SCHOOL)

BABY-O! arr. Matsui

THE TRAVELS OF A FOLK TUNE
Tracing the English folksong “What Shall We Do with the

Baby-O?” and its Appalachian descendent “Whatcha

Gonna Do With the Baby?” in fiddling styles up through

1920’s Old-Time

CAROLAN'S WELCOME Turlough O'Carolan
(1670-1738)

FRONTIER STRINGS &
PIONEER VALLEY SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

STEVEN BATHORY-PEELER, CONDUCTOR

FROM "RENAISSANCE DANCE SUITE" arr. Matsui

BALLET Michael Praetorious
(1471-1521)

RONDO Tielman Susato
(1500-1561)

PIONEER VALLEY SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

STEVEN BATHORY-PEELER, DIRECTOR

SYMPHONY NO. 94 IN G MAJOR, F. Joseph Haydn
"THE SURPRISE" (1732-1809)

II. ANDANTE

CONCERTO FOR OBOE AND Antonio Vivaldi

BASSOON IN G MAJOR (1678-1741)

I. ANDANTE MOLTO

Cameron Gray-Lee, oboe

Gordon Guo, bassoon

FROM SYMPHONY NO. 5 Franz Schubert
III. MENUETTO (1797-1828)
arr. Leidig
TAKE FIVE
Paul Desmond
RUMANIAN FOLK DANCES (1924-1977)
I. JOC CU BÂTĂ arr. Cerulli
II. BRÂUL
Béla Bartók
Eva Ren, clarinet (1881-1945)



III. PE LOC Alice Chen, flute

IV. BUCIUMEANA
Rowan Kehrer, violin

V. POARGA ROMÂNEASCĂ
VI. MĂRUNȚEL
VII. MĂRUNȚEL

VIOLIN I FLUTE
Rowan Kehrer Alice Chen

concertmaster OBOE
Zoë Ballou Cameron Gray-Lee
Maddie Raymond
Charlotte Relyea-Strawn CLARINET
Jordyn Tully, Eva Ren

assistant principal BASSOON
Gordon Guo
VIOLIN II
Allen Chen TRUMPET
Nathaniel Johnston
principal
Maia Christensen TIMPANI &
Justice Hammond PERCUSSION
Rhys Prindle Elias Crowell
Juliette Rousseau
Charlotte Staloff Special thanks to
the members of the
VIOLA
Abigail Florence Goff Pioneer Valley
Symphony Orchestra
principal who are performing
Serena Lok with the students in

VIOLONCELLO today's concert.
Grace Liu

principal
Sungmin Ahn
Amelia Hartner
Charles Hopton
Stefan Maitinsky
Serena Meléndez
Sandu Rager

BASS
Coleman L. Hartner

principal
Bryn Appel

STRING
ENSEMBLES

FIDDLE BAND "THE FLYING JACKRABBITS"
(MIDDLE SCHOOL)

VIOLIN Aisla Varnon
Amelia Dickson Charles Vickery
Iris Gochinski Celia Yazwinski
Sadie Griffin
Isabelle Lima BASS
Stella Porth Desmond DeAngelo
Jack Savidge
Pax Stark

FRONTIER STRING ORCHESTRA (HIGH SCHOOL)

VOILIN VIOLA
Zoë Ballou* Alexis Brown
Mackenzie Bishop Thaddeus Conner III
Aniela Carey Abigail Goff
Sasha Malo
Samantha Melnik CELLO
Matthew Sibley Tavo Vincent-Warner
Cadince Wells-Robinson
BASS
*guest musician Noah Holmes
Michelena McCarthy

STEVEN BATHORY-PEELER

YOUTH ORCHESTRA DIRECTOR

Steven Bathory-Peeler is delighted to
be the music director for the Pioneer
Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra. He
brings more than 25 years of
experience conducting, composing,
and teaching to the PVSYO. Steven is
a 24-year resident of Franklin County,
and works as Director of Orchestras
and Concert Band at Northfield Mount
Hermon School where he has held the
position since 1997.

​Steven began his conducting career in 1992 when he
served as assistant conductor for the Boston Civic
Symphony and New England Conservatory Opera
Department. Conducting teachers have included: Jeffrey
Rink, Michael Jinbo, and Glen Adsit. Steven holds a DMA in
composition from the University of Hartford, an MMus in
voice from New England Conservatory, and a BMus in voice
from Indiana University. He undertook further study at the
Pierre Monteaux School for Conductors and the Mozarteum
in Salzburg, Austria. Steven also served as the assistant
conductor for the PVS during the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003
seasons.

Steven has been recognized by the American Society of
Composers, Authors, and Publishers as an emerging
composer with awards given in 2001 and 2002. In addition
to the general duties of the music director of the PVSYO,
Steven is excited to teach members of the orchestra about
giving back to the community and how to become a
positive role model for others. Steven lives in Gill with his
wife Megan and two children, Ella and Quinn.

Stop in before or after the concert!

American Fare with Local Flair
9 Amherst Rd, Sunderland MA 01375
bridgesidegrille.com (413) 397-8101

sattvaarchery.com

SERVING FRAKL

SUSAN MATSUI

FRONTIER STRINGS DIRECTOR

Susan Matsui studied composition
with Dan Gutwein at Williams College,
with Cesar Bresgan at the Salzburg
Mozarteum, and with Salvatore
Macchia at UMass Amherst, where she
earned her Master’s of Music degree.
She studied the French horn with
Robert Abernathy, Andre Speyer, and
Josef Mayr. From 1982 to 2000 Susan
lived in Japan, where her three
children were born, and where she

became an author of Japanese books and songs.

Susan has published thirty-five books for children, including
four songbooks, one book of essays for adults, several
translations of German children’s books into Japanese, and four
kamishibai, or paper plays. Her compositions for vocal and
instrumental soloists and ensembles have been performed in
Japan and America. Since 2000, she has lived in western
Massachusetts, where she is now an elementary school music
teacher, high school strings teacher, and church organist and
choir director (St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in East
Longmeadow, MA). She continues to write stories for the
Japanese children’s book market and compose chamber music,
songs, and sacred music, while enjoying country life with her
family. Susan is also a great lover of medieval music and plays a
variety of medieval and Renaissance stringed instruments as
well as folk fiddle.



OUR THANKS

FUNDERS

This concert is made possible in part by generous in-kind
contributions from Frontier Regional School, Greenfield
Public Schools, and Hillside Pizza, and the financial
support of business sponsors advertised in this program
book. The PVS Youth Orchestra is funded in part by the
Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, and founding
program partner The Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation.

PRIVATE MUSIC TEACHERS

Jennifer Allen Michelle Liechti
Catalina Arrubla Lynn Lovell
Deborah Ashe James Macdonald
Cecilia Berger Megan Mahoney
Anton Boutkov Allyson Michal
Julie Carew Robin Stone
Kaila Graef Anna Wetherby
Emily Green Rafe Wolman
Alison Hall

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

Amherst Middle School Homeschools
Amherst Regional HS Montessori School
Bement School
Crocker Farm Elementary of Northampton
Discovery School at Newton School
North Star
Four Corners Northampton High School
Federal Street School Northfield Mount Hermon
Four Rivers Charter School Pioneer Valley Chinese
Frontier Regional Schools Immersion
Greenfield Center School
Greenfield High School Charter School
Greenfield Middle School Pioneer Valley Regional
Stoneleigh Burnham

CONCERT CONTRIBUTORS

Karen Cole, Joanne Clapp, Carol Coan, Kristin Howard, Ilana
x Polyak, and Jason Staloff
Casey Gilman, PVS Youth Orchestra Manager
Max Sherill, Frontier Regional School Band & Choir Director
The Pioneer Valley Symphony musicians who mentor and
perform with the PVS Youth Orchestra

Join the Youth Orchestra!

All instruments welcome.



Auditions for the 2022 -
2023 season will be held via
Zoom in June and August.




For more information, visit
pvsoc.org/youth-orchestra




or contact the
Youth Orchestra Manager

Casey Gilman
413.773.3664
[email protected]





BUILDING COMMUNITY
THROUGH MUSIC SINCE 1939

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

TIANHUI NG MUSIC DIRECTOR
ANTHONY FERREIRA ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
E. WAYNE ABERCROMBIE INTERIM CHORUS DIRECTOR
CHORUS ACCOMPANIST
LARRY PICARD YOUTH ORCHESTRA DIRECTOR
STEVEN BATHORY-PEELER RESIDENT MUSICOLOGIST

DAVID SCHNEIDER

OPERATIONS

KAREN COLE USHER COORDINATOR
CASEY GILMAN YOUTH ORCHESTRA MANAGER &


ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
TUYET LINH LAFLEUR PERSONNEL MANAGER &


PRPRODUCTION COORDINATOR
ROBIN LUBEROFF ORCHESTRA LIBRARIAN
MONROE RANDALL LIBRARY INTERN
JANNA WALTERS-GIDSEG EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

KARA PETERMAN PRESIDENT
AMY PATT VICE PRESIDENT
TREASURER
PETER KRAVETZ CLERK
ANDREA MCDERMOTT
DIRECTOR EMERITUS
MAUREEN CARNEY
KRISTIN DONOHUE

DEBBIE FELTON
AARON LAKOTA

ALEX MEADE
JOHN THOMAS

RON WEISS
TERRY RUGGLES

239-R MAIN STREET GREENFIELD MA 01301

413.773.3664 PVSOC.ORG

PIONEER VALLEY SYMPHONY, INC.
239-R MAIN STREET

GREENFIELD, MA 01301

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