Children’s Orchestra Society, in residence at Madison Theatre of Molloy College for the past 2 seasons, is presenting all of its 4 orchestras, the Elite String Ensemble in its 45th Annual Winter Concert on December 15th, 4 pm, at the Madison Theatre, 1000 Hempstead Avenue, Rockville Centre, NY. 13 year old Valerie Chen will be playing Solo in Lalo’s Cello Concerto as her prize for winning the Junior Discovery Concerto Competition with the Young Symphonic Ensemble, conductor Michael Dadap. Also performing are the Kinder Orchestra, conductor Sara Aomori; Sinfonia, conductor Emil Botti, Junior Symphonic Ensemble, conductor Kevin Shue, and the Elite String Ensemble, Conductor, Michael Dadap. Works by Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, Lalo and more.

VALERIE CHEN, CELLO
Cellist Valerie Chen, 13, is an 8th grader at South Woods Middle School in Syosset. She has been playing the cello for more than five years now, beginning her studies with Dr. Joyce Geeting and studying with Prof. Maureen Hynes since 2009. Her orchestra experience includes COS YSE and JSE, Gemini Youth Orchestra, Nassau Music Educators Association (NMEA) All-County, Long Island String Festival Association (LISFA), C.W. Post Chamber Orcehstra, South Woods Middle School Chamber Orchestra, among others. Some of her most recent successes include 1st Place at the C.W. Post Pre-College Division Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition, Best Chamber Group Award (Sessions 1 and 3) of C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival, Tilles Scholar Awards, and Dr. Idiko Mohacsy Award.

COS Alumna Sara Aomori, also conductor of the Kinder Orchestra, made this video of Sara:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2KQ6FNSOhg

The Children’s Orchestra Society, founded in 1962 by Dr. H.T. Ma, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to “teaching the language of music” to children and teens. Our mission is to cultivate and nurture children and teach them teamwork and life skills through music-learning and performing in orchestral and chamber music settings. Members of COS receive excellent training in classical music and opportunities to perform in concerts with their peers as well as with well-established musicians.