East Minnesota Weekly News

October 21, 2010-This December, the Minnesota Sinfonia’s free-admission Holiday Favorites concert will feature seasonal, family-friendly orchestra music and a solo appearance by 13-year-old violinist Jason Shu of Corcoran, MN. Jason is the Junior winner of the Sinfonia’s 2010 Young Artist Competition, and will perform Camille Saint-Saens’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the orchestra on December 3 and 4. The concert program also includes holiday favorites by Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn and others.

Jason, who started playing the violin at age 3, has performed with the Minnesota Youth Symphonies for eight years, and has played with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra at Ted Mann Concert Hall. He is the winner of several competitions, including the Allegro Orchestra Camp Concerto Competition and the Minnesota String & Orchestra Teachers Association’s Mary West Solo Competition. An eighth-grader at the Blake School in Hopkins, he currently studies with University of Minnesota Professor of Violin Sally O’Reilly.

The Minnesota Sinfonia is a professional chamber orchestra whose mission is to serve the musical and educational needs of the citizens of Minnesota, especially families with children, inner-city youth, seniors and those with limited financial means. The Sinfonia plays concerts for over 25,000 people each year, and is the only professional orchestra of its kind, offering all concerts free of admission charges, welcoming children to every performance, and dedicating over half its services to inner-city schools. Founded in 1989 by Artistic Director Jay Fishman, the Minnesota Sinfonia is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization supported by corporate, foundation and individual contributors. For more information, to make a donation, or for a list of upcoming performances, visit www.mnsinfonia.org or call 612-871-1701.