The Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival opens its 80th season on Tuesday, June 24, with a concert of the winners of the 52nd Annual Young Artists Auditions and a pre-concert performance by Redlands’ Youth Ensemble of Strings starting at 7:15 p.m.

More than 45 young musicians competed on May 10 for the highly coveted and much sought-after honor to appear in this concert. Six young people from all over Southern California emerged as winners.

Flutist Daniel Mizraim Ramon of Riverside will perform as the only senior artist of the group. Ramon has performed in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic, and he soloed with the Inland Master Chorale in Redlands and with many churches in the Inland Empire, Orange County, and Los Angeles. Ramon currently studies with Sara Andon, principal flutist with the Redlands Symphony Orchestra. With his accompanist Greg Nabours, Ramon will perform the Concertino for Flute and Piano by Cecile Chaminade.

The youngest member of the winning group, 14-year-old Mija Reyes will play the violin in a Polonaise by Henri Wieniawski and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” by Gershwin. A Corona resident, Reyes has played with the Disney’s Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, the Four Season’s Orchestra, Colburn’s Orchestra da Camera, and the Colburn Chamber Orchestra. Studying violin since age four, Reyes currently works with Ms. Linda Rose.

Cellist Joshua Lee of Walnut added this honor to an impressive list of awards he has received. A student at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, he currently studies with Ron Leonard, past principal cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has been featured many times on 105.1 K Mozart and on KUSC’s “Sunday’s Live” broadcast. He also performed as principal cellist for the 2002 All Southern California High School Honor Orchestra.

San Marino resident and pianist Jessica Ou, 17 years old, will perform Debussy’s “L’isle joyeuse” and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 3. Currently studying with Dorothy Hwang, Ou has appeared as a soloist with the La Mirada Symphony, the Santa Barbara Symphony, and the Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra.

Clarinetist Arthur Karapetian, a seventeen-year-old Sherman Oaks resident, has won numerous awards and competitions for classical clarinet and jazz saxophone. A three-year student at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, he will perform selections by Scarlatti, Stravinsky, and Debussy.

The only Redlands representative, vocalist Craig Colclough has studied voice since the summer of 1999. He has performed a variety of roles, from Che in “Evita” to Curly in “Oklahoma”. He has been cast in the lead role of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the University of Redlands next April. Accompanied for this concert by Lorene Forsyth, he will sing several selections including “Die alten”, bösen Lieder by Schumann.

The 7:15 pre-concert by the Youth Ensemble of Strings, directed by Karen Thurman-Palmer, will be followed by a special musical tribute to the late Florence Beeler, long-time RCMA Vice President and Program Director. This program is sponsored by the Associates of the Redlands Bowl, Inc.

All events of the Redlands Summer Music Festival are presented without an admission charge, with a free-will offering collected at intermission.
The Redlands Bowl is located at 25 Grant Street in Redlands between Grant and Eureka Streets, just south of Brookside Avenue. For directions and more information, contact the office at 909/793-7316 or view the website at www.redlandsbowl.org.