McAuley Student Selected As Member Of The Chicago Youth In Music Festival Orchestra

Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School junior Alaina Rea of Orland Park has been selected as a member of the Chicago Youth in Music Festival Orchestra (CYF) for 2013. Held once every other year, this festival is a chance for Alaina and other classically-trained students to celebrate their passion and learn from professionals in the field.

The Chicago Youth in Music Festival is a partnership between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and other major organizations in music education. Membership in this orchestra is determined by an audition and is open to students both in and outside of Chicago. It is a distinguished program, and an honor to be selected. Alaina will have the opportunity to be mentored in rehearsals and workshops by well-known and successful musicians, including Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director, Riccardo Muti; Youth Orchestra of the Americas Music Director, Carlos Miguel Prieto; and Civic Orchestra Principal Conductor, Cliff Colnot. She also will perform in concerts at Orchestra Hall in the Symphony Center on Michigan Avenue and in neighborhood locations throughout Chicago in early February 2013. For specific performance dates, visit the Chicago Symphony Orchestra website at www.cso.org.

Alaina began studying the violin at the age of three with Lamar Blum of the Suzuki School of Elgin. She has been a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) since the third grade and has progressed through CYSO’s core orchestral programs. Last year, she was selected to participate in the “Rising Star Showcase” presented by the Friends of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. During May 2011, Alaina’s CYSO quartet, the Amati Quartet, was selected to perform on stage with the famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Chicago’s Symphony Center Orchestra Hall as a part of the last Chicago Youth in Music Festival. In August 2011, she performed at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion with members of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, who accompanied Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. She has participated in master classes led by Yo-Yo Ma, The Lincoln Trio, and The Beethoven Trio. This year, she also made first chair in the Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA) District Orchestra.