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Duke University String
School to Perform at the White House
DURHAM, N.C. - The Duke University
String School, which has taught hundreds of children in the Triangle to play
string instruments since 1966, will perform on the Candlelight Tour of the
White House on Tuesday, Dec. 21, from 8 to 9 p.m.
Fifteen high school students have been selected to participate in the concert,
which will be held in the East Room of the White House. Dorothy Kitchen, the
school's founder and director, will conduct the chamber orchestra.
"We're extremely excited," Kitchen said. "I still can't quite
believe it's actually going to happen."
The string school performers will wear formal attire. The young men will wear
tuxedos with red bow ties and the young women will wear black-and-white gowns
with rhinestone pins. There's no guarantee of admission for supporters, so some
students' parents plan to line up outside the White House as early as two hours
ahead of time.
The group will perform six compositions: Overture to the Messiah by Handel,
Pastoral Symphony from the Messiah by Handel, Movement from the Brandenburg
Third Concerto by Bach, Cuzco by Armando Guevara y Ochoa, Movements from the
Christmas Concerto by Corelli, Diversion by Jean Berger, and Por Una Cabeza, an
Argentinian tango by Carlos Gardel.
Kitchen said she didn't know whether President Clinton or any members of the
first family would attend the performance. But several legislators and
dignitaries have been invited, including Rep. David Price, D-N.C., and Sen.
John Edwards, D-N.C.
The idea to have the string school perform at the White House emerged last year
when a relative of Patrick Riley, a parent of two string school students,
mentioned the candlelight tour and how a few instrumental groups usually take
part each year.
With the help of Riley and other parent volunteers, Kitchen put together an
application that included a videotape of the string school's 1998 Christmas
concert and letters of support by William Chafe, dean of Duke's faculty of arts
and sciences, as well as university President Nannerl O. Keohane.
The application package was sent to the White House last March, and shortly
afterwards Kitchen was notified that the string school had been placed on a
waiting list. She didn't hear from anyone for several months and by the fall
was thinking to herself that the performance probably wouldn't happen.
Then, last month she got the call and one week later, an invitation and a
confirmation letter arrived in the mail, bearing a watermark of the United
States seal.
For Kitchen, the most challenging element so far has been deciding who should
represent the string school. In all, the program has about 250 students and
Kitchen felt that as many as 50 of them were both qualified and deserving.
However, because of the East Room's space limitations, only 15 students can
participate in the concert. A number of alternates were selected but are not
expected to make the trip.
"I spent a whole sleepless week trying to decide how to choose and who
could go," Kitchen said. "How could I choose 15 people from 50 people
who I love? I came up with a system, but it was still very, very
difficult."
The student performers will be Michael Adams, Lee Ballard, Michael Chan, James
Dargan, John Hammond, Katie Hodel, Emily Hsieh, Fredric McIntyre, Anders Meyer,
Bettina Yost, Sarah Bursey, Daniel Chao, Leslie Riley, Lila Riley and Jonathan
Stuart-Moore.
The alternates will be Matt Kiefer, Justin Lo, Abby Shoun, Marcel Yang, Theo
Love and Adam Harris. In addition, Christine Brown will make the trip as
librarian. Several parents also will go as chaperones, including pianist Samuel
Hammond.
The string school was founded as a private school in 1966 by Kitchen and Arlene
Di Cecco of the original Ciompi Quartet, Duke's resident string quartet. The
program was invited to become a formal part of the Duke University music
department in 1973 and since then has been an official adjunct, nurturing a
love of music in hundreds of young people. Today, the string school has some
250 students who make up six orchestras and 25 chamber groups.
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