Aurora Youth Symphony Orchestra closes out season

The members of the Aurora Youth Symphony Orchestra will celebrate all of the elements when they take the stage Sunday for their final performance of the season.

"The Magic of Earth, Air, Fire and Water" performance begins at 3 p.m. today at Aurora's Paramount Theatre.

Director Gregg Porter said that in Sunday's performance, earth will be represented by Gustav Holst's "Jupiter," fire by Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird Suite-Internal Suite," and magic by the "Symphonic Suite from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

"These students all range from first grade through college sophomores and they're all extremely talented," Porter said. "I'm excited for their performance."

The three winners of a recent concerto competition, Batavia High School sophomores Sam Pedersen and Anna Zarn and Waubonsie Valley High School senior Shenil Dodhia each will perform solos.

"We opened up the competition to 20 students and brought in two judges to determine the winners," Porter said. "Narrowing the finalists from five to three, the judges said, was excruciating."

The Aurora Youth Symphony Orchestra is a nonprofit orchestra program for up to 90 student musicians. The orchestra performs two major concerts each year and travels to participate in a youth orchestra festival each spring.

Members are from 30 towns, including Aurora, Batavia, St. Charles, Geneva, Oswego, Plainfield and Yorkville.

Tickets, $8, can be purchased from any orchestra member or by contacting Porter. Porter said tickets also will be available at a table outside the theater just before the performance.