10th Annual Cello Festival Orchestra Concert May 29, 2010

The tenth annual concert of the Cello Festival Orchestra, featuring local student soloists, will take place on Saturday, May 29 in the Gibbons Middle School auditorium in Westborough at 7:00 PM.

The purpose of the event is to give local young cellists an opportunity to perform solo cello pieces accompanied by professionals and in a professional setting. Works by Vivaldi, St. Saens, Faure and Boccherini will be performed.

The musicians comprising the Festival Orchestra are all professional musicians including concertmaster Scott Knopf, violoncello continuo Cynthia Forbes and keyboardist Ian Watson, the featured keyboard player for the soundtracks of the films Amadeus and Mr. Holland’s Opus. The conductor, Paul Dulude, is the director of the Boston Virtuosi. The concert is free, but donations are encouraged.

Westborough has a strong strings program which begins students in third grade. Cello students from Westborough playing on the 29th include: Max Polich, Kevin Lai, Emily Brown, Andrew Hyde, Ayako Mikami, James Murray, Alex Arsenis and Jordan Hensley. James Hardy of Worcester is a student at St. John’s High School. Matt Flynn, a Westborough alum and current student at Boston University, will be performing also.

The performers are all students of Maryan McClelland Pietropaolo, who taught at the University of Lowell and Phillips Exeter Academy. She moved to Westborough in 1999 with her husband, Joseph Pietropaolo, a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra viola section for 39 years.

The performance is sponsored by parents and local businesses and organizations, including EMSEAL Joint Systems, Ltd, New England Violins, Inc., Spectrum Music, Yoga with Carol, Melfa Wealth Management, Chase Realty Trust, Simple Enough Natural Foods, South Street Diner, Le Lyonnais Restaurant of Acton and Westborough.com.