University School student Henry Shapard to perform at Severance Hall on May 3

Henry Shapard, a Cleveland Heights resident and junior at University School, rehearses for his upcoming solo performance with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchesta.

As a result of winning the 2014–15 Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Concerto competition, Henry Shapard, a junior at University School and a Cleveland Heights resident, will perform Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto in G Minor with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) on Sunday, May 3, at 8 p.m., at Severance Hall.

“In addition to weekly rehearsals with the orchestra, I have been doing a lot of individual preparation for the concert,” said Shapard. “The Kabalevsky concerto is not performed very often, and my job as a soloist is to make this rarely heard piece come to life and inspire audience members to go home and give it a second listen.”

Shapard is in his fifth season as a member of COYO and has served as both assistant principal and principal cello. A student of Richard Weiss in the preparatory department of the Cleveland Institute of Music, he has played the cello since the age of three.

He has won various competitions, including the Chinese Professional Entrepreneurial Organization string competition, and the Elementary, Junior, and Senior divisions of the Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition. In the summer of 2014, he was one of six cellists selected from around the U.S. to participate in the Young Artists Program of the Yellow Barn Music Festival in Putney, Vt.

This summer, Shapard will play on two different concert tours in China. In June, he will perform there as principal cellist with COYO. In July, he will perform at Carnegie Hall and in seven Chinese cities as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.

Tickets to the May 3 concert are available directly through the Severance Hall Ticket Office at 216-231-1111, or online at www.clevelandorchestra.com.

Fiona Reilly

Fiona Reilly is the public relations director at University School.

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Volume 8, Issue 5, Posted 10:57 AM, 04.30.2015