The talented teen from Gorham who’s featured in the upcoming AVCO program at the Olin Arts Center at Bates College, Lewiston, has been accepted to play with the National Festival Orchestra. That group will perform in January 2005 at the famed hall in New York City. She also plans to audition soon for a place on the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.

“I love to play this piece,” Angela said of the Mendelssohn concerto. “This is the first time I have played it with an orchestra, and it’s really pretty difficult.”

The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, first performed in 1845, has a long tradition as a showpiece for child prodigies. The orchestration of the first movement is straightforward and designed to show off the violinist rather than overwhelm the listener with complexity. The final movement emphasizes the virtuoso tradition of the concerto with a display of buoyant themes at breakneck speed. The movement is structured in a “question and answer'” format, with the violin and orchestra trading lively ideas and challenges until they reach an ending statement that leaves the audience clamoring for more.

The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is a far cry from Angela’s earliest fascination with music. She began her music studies at age 6 when a friend played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” for her on the violin. Now a freshman at Waynflete High School in Portland, she has formerly studied violin with Clorinda Noyes and Holly Ovenden, and is currently a student of Stephen Kecskemethy, first violinist of the Portland String Quartet. Angela plays with a string quartet coached by members of the PSQ which performs at the Portland Conservatory of Music; she is also a member of both the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra.

She was a guest soloist for the “Magic of Christmas” at Merrill Auditorium with the Portland Symphony Orchestra when she was 12.

Angela is no stranger to the Auburn music scene. She has performed in the pit orchestra or provided musical accompaniment for several productions of Community Little Theatre, including “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat,” and “Billionaire Vegans.” She also has played for several Colin Britt productions, including one of the popular off-Broadway concerts featuring Dennis St. Pierre held to benefit the Franco-American Heritage Center.

For Angela Doxsey, the future is wide open. She said she hasn’t decided if she will pursue a career in music.

Besides the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, the AVCO concert program includes Suite #3 by Bach, Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss, and selections from “The Merry Widow” by Lehar with vocal soloist Alison Traynor.

The Androscoggin Valley Community Orchestra has been a part of the communities around the Androscoggin River for many years. The group of volunteer musicians rehearses once a week. They have played under the baton of Paul Ross for four seasons.

Ross is cellist with the Portland String Quartet, conductor of the Brunswick Regional Youth Orchestra and the Kennebec Valley Community Orchestra, and a member of the music faculty of Colby and Bowdoin colleges. He has been principal cellist with the Robert Shaw Chorale, Quebec Symphony, Florida Symphony, Boston Opera and Boston Ballet and has performed with the Boston Symphony, the CBC Radio Orchestra and the Boston Pops.

The May 8 concert will begin at 7 p.m. at the Olin Arts Center. Tickets at the door are $5; there is a $20 maximum for families. For more information, call 795-6921.


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