Virtuoso teens to perform in Wednesday festival concert

Sunday, June 22, 2014
Zoie Hightower

Teenage virtuosos violinist Zoie Hightower and cellist Braden McConell will be the featured artists in this week's free Greencastle Summer Music Festival concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the sanctuary of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

Each is a former child prodigy who studies at the Indiana University String Academy in Bloomington. They will perform music by Franck, Dvorak, Shostakovich and Popper, accompanied by pianist Katie Gleiser.

"One of the great things about our festival is that we present rising young artists as well as people with established careers," Eric Edberg, the DePauw music professor who is the festival's founder and director, said.

"Last season, Braden performed for us along with another teenaged cellist from the String Academy, Gabe Martins. The concert was dazzling and for many of us, one of the highlights of the season. We asked them back but Gabe is out of the country. Their teacher recommended Zoie, who is an outstanding violinist. I think we have another hit on our hands."

Hightower is an accomplished 17-year-old violinist and violist, performing in ensembles and as a soloist in Europe, South America and the United States.

As a soloist, Hightower has performed in concert halls in Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina and throughout the U.S., including a performance at Carnegie Hall in 2013 with the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Virtuosi.

As a violist, she received second prize in the 2012 Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Summer String Academy Viola Concerto Competition. As a violinist, in 2013 she won first prize in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's Side-by-Side concerto competition, which culminated in a featured solo performance with the ISO.

Already in 2014, she has received Honorable Mention in the New World Concerto Competition, was selected concertmaster in the 2014 Indianapolis Symphony's Side-by-Side and was selected as a finalist of the prestigious Mauer Young Artist's Competition.

McConnell, a student at University School in Cleveland, studies cello with Susan Moses at Indiana University String Academy. Accepted into the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra at age 11, he was its youngest musician for two years.

McConnell toured Boston with the orchestra and performed in numerous side-by side concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra. He is a winner of the Cleveland Cello Society's scholarship competition and the Sigma Alpha Iota competition.

Gleiser, a native of a small town in Ontario, Canada, has achieved international recognition as a pianist, vocalist and electronic musician.

She is a national-level prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition and the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association Competition, and she was a finalist at the National Chopin Competition.

Gleiser has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras. Recent performances include Rachmaninov's "Piano Concerto No. 2" and Chopin's "Concerto No. 1" at IU. Having performed both Chopin concerti with the Georgian Bay Symphony's String Quartet, she has been re-invited this April to perform the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3.

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues on Wednesday, July 2 with a tribute to Pete Seeger folk music concert, organized by Sharon McKnight of the Lafayette area and featuring singer Linda Hicks and local favorites Bobbie Lancaster and Tad Robinson.

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