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Music Director Shizuo Kuwahara and Symphony Orchestra Augusta feature principal oboist Kelly Odell in concert on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH at 7:30 P.M. at First Baptist of Augusta on Walton Way Extension.  Tickets are available at www.soaugusta.org or by calling the Symphony office, 706.826.4705.

MAIN GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
Kristin Casaletto: Selected Works
January 8 – March 5, 2010
Main Gallery, Ware’s Folly
Opening the New Year is a solo exhibition of recent works by printmaker and Augusta resident Kristin Casaletto. Seen in galleries across the U.S. as well as in Australia and Italy, Casaletto’s artwork incorporates printmaking, drawing, and sometimes painting and other media.  Professor of Art and Head of Printmaking Area for Augusta State University, Casaletto received her M.F.A. in Painting from Western Michigan University, and her M.A. in Art History from Michigan State University.

Winners of the 2009-2010 Symphony Youth Competition Announced
Symphony Orchestra Augusta, under the direction of Maestro Shizuo Kuwahara, and the Augusta Symphony Guild held its annual Symphony Youth Competition on Sunday, January 24 at 1 p.m. at Augusta State University Performing Arts Theatre. This year’s competition was sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Kraig Wangsnes.
Mackenzie Marr, a sophomore at Davidson Fine Arts School, won the top prize of $500 and an opportunity to perform with the orchestra for her performance on piano.  She will perform with the orchestra during the Young People’s …

Beginning Thursday, January 14, 2010, a mixed ensemble of five core musicians from Symphony Orchestra Augusta present TAKE FIVE…SOA LIVE! for students in 16 Columbia County elementary schools.  This new program takes Eliza Hesse, principal second violin, Yanghee Lee, principal cello, Taylor Massey, principal clarinet, Kelly Odell, principal oboe, and Carl Purdy, principal viola, into the schools to perform together and in various combinations for fourth and fifth grade audiences. SOA Music Director Shizuo Z Kuwahara selected music of Bach, Bizet, and Brubeck, among others, to engage the young audiences.  …

Music Director Shizuo Z Kuwahara and Symphony Orchestra Augusta feature cellist Yanghee Lee in concert on Saturday, January 23rd at 7:30 p.m. at First Baptist of Augusta, Walton Way Extension. Miss Lee will open the concert with Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, a work which British musicologist and analyst, Sir Donald Francis Tovey, described as “for once, a violoncello concerto in which the solo instrument displays every register without the slightest difficulty in penetrating the orchestra.” Many composers, including Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff, considered this concerto to …

Sandra Self, executive director of Symphony Orchestra Augusta, recently announced the receipt of its second grant from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation in the amount of $2,000. The foundation recognized the Symphony’s “standards of excellence” and stated that the grant reflected the Foundation’s “appreciation of innovation, improvements of program, extension of reach, and increase in cost-effectiveness.”

The Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, Georgia is pleased to present Augusta resident Rusty Walton in a mixed-media photography exhibition, opening Friday, November 5, 2009 in the Institute’s Main Gallery.
Even though the processes Walton uses are often very involved, the result he searches for is something that initially communicates simplicity.  Though minimal in composition, each piece is emotionally evocative, seeking to visually draw the viewer closer.
“Although a self-taught photographer and mixed media artist, Rusty Walton’s background in photography and interior design have contributed to his development as an …

Symphony ORCHESTRA AUGUSTA
Announces Concertmaster for
concerts october 8, 9, AND 10:
ERIN KEEFE – Winner of 2006 avery fisher career grant
Shizuo Z Kuwahara, Music Director, Symphony Orchestra Augusta (SOA) recently announced details concerning the August 25 audition results.  No candidate was hired for the vacant Concertmaster position. A second audition is scheduled for Monday, November 16, at First Baptist of Augusta.  The position as most recently announced is an 18-month position effective January 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. For more information regarding the concertmaster position and audition, contact Personnel Manager Arthur …