This March, Interlochen Arts Academy students are hitting the road and going on tour.
After a kickoff performance in Interlochen, they’ll then travel to Detroit, Philadelphia, and Boston.
The tour is called Imagine US: Celebrating America at 250.
The tour program includes the premiere of a new cello concerto, composed by Wynton Marsalis and featuring Yo-Yo Ma as the soloist. The students are also performing the Symphony no. 4 by Charles Ives and RE|Member, a work by Reena Esmail.
All of these orchestra pieces are woven together with multidisciplinary elements.
Classical IPR has invited two Interlochen Arts Academy students to serve as tour ambassadors, giving us regular dispatches as they prepare for the tour. They’ll send updates from the road once they’re on tour, and then we’ll talk with them after they return to find out how it all went.
This week, we meet the first of our tour ambassadors.
Sydney Kassekert
Sydney Kassekert is a senior, studying in the Singer-Songwriter program at Interlochen Arts Academy. She's spent all four years of high school here.
Sydney is composing an original song that will open the entire concert. She'll perform that new song with none other than Yo-Yo Ma himself.
She was chosen for this role in the tour program not only because of her musicianship but also for the role she plays in the Interlochen community. Sydney has attended Interlochen for four years, and she's currently the Vice Chair of the Student Representative Board.
She told us that she's excited to meet Yo-Yo Ma, and she's still working on the song that they'll perform together.
Right now, her friend and classmate Wesley is standing in for Yo-Yo Ma as she composes the song.
The title of her new song is "Imagine," and it's still under construction. Sydney said that this week in her lesson, she's working on fine-tuning the lyrics of the second verse, which she'd like to incorporate imagery of Lady Liberty and the song "America."
In the coming weeks, we'll hear more from Sydney as she prepares her original song and gets ready to collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma.
Look for new dispatches from Classical IPR's Imagine US tour ambassadors every Monday online first thing and on air at 8:30 a.m.
