Campus Orchestra presents Fall Concert with Violinist James Lyon as guest soloist

The Penn State Campus Orchestra fall semester concert will be held Sunday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Music Building I. Tickets should be purchased in advance. Tickets are $12.50 for adults and $4.50 for students. The Campus Orchestra is an ensemble comprising diverse, mostly non-music major, musicians from all over University Park campus. This Fall concert will feature music by Aaron Copland, Edvard Grieg, and an arrangement by William Grant Still of Florence Price’s "Dances in the Canebrakes." The concert will also feature Professor James Lyon, violin, as soloist in Beethoven’s riveting "Violin Concerto in D Major." The music of American composers Copland and Price is sure to offer many familiar tunes leaving the listener with memorable melodies at the end of the performance. About James Lyon, soloist: Praised as “a dramatic violin soloist,” James Lyon has been lauded by the press for his “virtually definitive performance” of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219. His performances have taken him to places as varied as Amman, Jordan, where he performed for Queen Noor; to Venice, where he performed in a concert attended by Gian Carlo Menotti; and to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, where he performed to critical acclaim as a member of two Penn State ensembles, the Castalia Trio and Duo Concertant. Lyon has presented masterclasses at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, the Paris Conservatory, and at the Eastman School of Music. He has collaborated in performances with members of the Ying and Tokyo Quartets, as well as members of the Lincoln Center Chamber Players. Prior to his current appointment as Professor of Violin at Penn State, Lyon was a member of the Harrington Quartet, 1987 Grand Prize Winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Artists-in Residence at West Texas State University. Lyon’s recordings are available worldwide through YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon, and include several works by prominent women composers of the 19th century. His recording with the Castalia Trio of works by Brahms and Ravel was honored with the Sound Stage Award shortly after it was released on Skrvna Records in the Czech Republic. In addition to the his duties at the Pennsylvania State University, Professor Lyon is a member of the violin and chamber music faculty at the Wintergreen Academy in Virginia. He performs on an 1869 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin, as well a 1983 violin crafted by American luthier David Burgess. He is married to cellist Carol Purdy Lyon and resides in Boalsburg, Pa. The ensemble is conducted by second year graduate conducting students Santiago Jolly, Tomás García, and Ying Lam Chu. All are students of Professor Gerardo Edelstein. Parking is available in the Nittany Parking Deck at an hourly rate. The concert will be livestreamed.