Consuming Passion February 8, 2009

Santa Cecilia Orchestra, an orchestra with a special mission to serve the Latino community, presents “Consuming Passion”. Under the baton of Sonia Marie De Léon de Vega, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, celebrating its 16th year, will present a full symphony concert. The program will include Beethoven’s Coriolanus Overture, Bruch’s Violin Concerto in g minor and Brahms’s 4th Symphony in e minor. Guest soloist is violinist Elena Urioste.


Mexican- American Violinist Elena Urioste, at just 22, has already thrilled both critics and audiences, appearing as soloist with major orchestras throughout the United States including the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Hartford Symphonies, as well as Hungary's Orchestra Dohnányi Budafok, garnering critical acclaim for her commanding stage presence, rich tone, and the nuanced lyricism of her playing.

She was recently selected by Symphony magazine as an emerging artist to watch. Urioste is the 2007 first prize winner of the Sion International Violin Competition, where she was also awarded the audience prize and the prize for the best performance of the competition's newly commissioned work. She has won both the senior (2007) and junior (2003) divisions of the National Sphinx Competition, as well as the Kennett Symphony Concerto Competition and the Temple University Music Prep Concerto Competition.

Sonia Marie De Léon de Vega is one of the most commanding musical figures in the region. She has recently received international attention on Univision’s “Orgullo Hispano” (Hispanic Pride), a profile that is reserved for the most accomplished Hispanic artists in the world. Hispanic Business Magazine voted her one of the “100 most influential Hispanics in the United States” and one of the “80 Elite Hispanic Women”. Last September KCET named Ms. De Léon de Vega a “Local Hero,” airing a profile throughout Hispanic Heritage Month about her work and the mission of the orchestra.
De Léon de Vega is energizing the arts through the orchestra’s educational outreach program, “Discovering Music.” The program introduces classical music and the instruments of the orchestra to Latino children and families in underserved areas in northeast Los Angeles and provides concerts in these local communities. The program includes an extensive instrumental program that provides free violin lessons to children in the communities of Northeast Los Angeles.

The concert will take place at Occidental College’s Thorne Hall, 1600 Campus Rd., Los Angeles on February 8, 2009 at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. There will be one performance only of this program. Tickets priced at $26, $20 and $7 (17and under) are available by calling the Santa Cecilia Orchestra office at (323) 259-3011 or logging on to scorchestra.org.

Official Website: http://www.scorchestra.org/ConsumingPassioninfo.html