Youth Orchestra

MUSIC PLAYS AN integral part in the life of Liberty High School junior Leslie Dragan. Leslie, 16, is involved with the Liberty High School String Quintet, the All State Senior Orchestra and the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra. She combines these commitments with private lessons on three instruments - piano, violin and viola, focusing mostly on the viola. She practices an hour a day on the viola, then divides the rest of her practice time between the piano and violin. Her mother, Valentina, attributes Leslie's love for music to Kay Tippett, the instrumental music teacher at Sykesville Middle School.

Monument Piano Trio The lowdown -- If you haven't discovered the Monument Piano Trio, the resident ensemble at An die Musik and a valuable addition to Baltimore's classical scene, Saturday's program should provide an engaging introduction. In addition to Rachmaninoff's Trio elegiaque, a stirring, infrequently heard work written after the death of Tchaikovsky, trios by Mozart and Brahms will be performed by violinist Igor Yuzefovich, cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski and pianist Michael Sheppard.

It's easy to worry about the prospects for classical music, but when an organization such as the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra comes into view, things look quite promising. This ensemble, made up of top high school and college students from all over the region, has been going strong since 1977. The GBYO, which is heading to Kanagawa, Japan, in June for performances, will give a concert this afternoon conducted by Jason Love. Also participating will be its subsidiary group for intermediate students, the Greater Baltimore Youth Concert Strings, conducted by Mary Poling.

After a two-year search, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra named Jose-Luis Novo yesterday as its new conductor and musical director. Novo was among six finalists who tried out for the chance to succeed Leslie B. Dunner, whose contract was not renewed after five years. Birthplace: Valladolid, Spain Age: 38 Family: married (his wife, Lori Kesner, is an American flutist) Education: After studying at a conservatory in his hometown in Spain, he attended the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, then came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar.

The music world loves a birthday party as much as anyone else, so it is with special pleasure that the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra pays homage to George Gershwin, America's songwriter supreme, on the 100th anniversary of his birth.All three youth orchestra ensembles will gather at 7: 30 p.m. Saturday in Maryland Hall in Annapolis for a performance that will conclude the organization's eighth year of concerts.Joining the senior orchestra ensemble and conductor Mark Allen McCoy will be guest pianist Daniel Lau, who will play "Rhapsody In Blue."

Youth Orchestra Young people may not flock to classical music concerts in droves, but, fortunately, a whole bunch of talented students still want to express themselves through classical music. Conservatories and college music departments have yet to report any drop-off in applications for admission. And a lot of those applicants developed their interest in the art form through participation in youth orchestras. For a prime example of how such ensembles can benefit students - and how accomplished the results can be - don't miss the finale to the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra Association's 27th season.

Edgar Holmes made his first trip to the United States in 1962, to the then-little town of Westminster, to teach vocal music at Westminster Junior High School for one year as a Fulbright Fellow.As part of an exchange program, he replaced the Westminster school's music teacher, George Carrozza, who had requested to go to England. Mr. Carrozza landed in Hampshire County in south central England for the 1962-1963 academic year."I couldn't even find Westminster on the map back then," Mr. Holmes said Tuesday, the first of a three-day stay in Carroll County.

Scott Speck, associate conductor of the Honolulu Symphony, has been named musical director of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony for the 1994-1995 season.Mr. Speck, 33, attended Yale and the University of Southern California and has conducted the Oregon, Florida and Santa Cruz symphonies, the Rochester Philharmonic and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra.A Fulbright scholar, he traveled to Germany, where he founded and conducted Concerto Grosso Berlin, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of music from the Baroque and Classical periods in a historically informed style.

Some of the instruments were squeaking. One girl didn't want to take off her hood because she had a "hair problem." Another girl, briefly, was missing her music, one of the cello players was moody and several students straggled in late. The music teacher, Anna Harris, was not the least bit unnerved by any of it. She looked out brightly at the elementary school students balancing their basses, cellos, violas and violins. "Can I see your beautiful, beautiful orchestra positions?" she asked.

Karen Deal, founding conductor of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra and former associate conductor of the Annapolis Symphony, has been named the assistant conductor of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.Deal has agreed to a three-year contract that will place her on the Nashville podium for more than 100 concerts per season and could lead to the associate directorship of the orchestra.Well known to area audiences through her six-year association with the ASO and her work with the youth orchestra the past two seasons, Deal, 35, will leave Maryland to assume her duties in Tennessee Aug. 1."