Young musicians present
‘Let’s Make Music Together’

      (April 29, 2008) – The Betty Strong Encounter Center will host “Let’s Make Music Together,” a program by young musicians from the Leo Kucinski Academy of Music (LKAM) at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 4. Admission will be free.

     The event will present music of Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, L.V. Beethoven, J.S. Bach, Frederic Chopin and Giacomo Puccini. It will include a DVD program by George Lindblade about the Academy and the late Leo Kucinski.

      LKAM performers will be: Faith and Josiah Allen, Daniel Everist, Laura Patterson, Anna and Alison Reynolds, violin; Jensen Froehlich, viola; Ryan Boggs and Hannah McGarvey, cello; Chloe Evans, Karen Fox, Austin Heeney, Allie Saulsbury and Joseph Verschoor, piano; Brad Ganzel, percussion; and soprano Annika Kolbo, an LKAM alumnus and now a Morningside College student.

     The LKAM currently has 272 students in four separate programs with 20 faculty members dedicated to providing quality music education to students of all ages and inspiring life-long appreciation for fine music. The Academy is a component of Morningside College’s Music Department and a partner of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra (SCSO).

     The LKAM was established in 2004. It has awarded more than $50,000 in scholarships; and loans 47 instruments to qualified students. The Academy maintains four separate programs: Private Instruction; Early Strings; Youth Orchestras; and the Catholic Schools String Program. In addition to lessons and rehearsals, the Academy offers a range of other opportunities, including: string play days; public performance opportunities; concerto competition; and master classes with visiting musicians.

    Leo Kucinski, a Polish immigrant, came to Sioux City in 1923 to lead Morningside College’s violin and orchestra department. He quickly went beyond that role, shaping the SCSO in its formative years in the 1920s and 1930s and leading it until his retirement in 1977.

     In addition to his work with Morningside College and the SCSO, Kucinski led the Monahan Post Band which became the Sioux City Municipal Band. He died in 1998 at the age of 93.

     The Betty Strong Encounter Center is connected to the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center on the Missouri Riverfront. It is a private, non-profit institution, built and sustained by Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD). For more information, call 712-224-5242 or visit www.siouxcitylcic.com.

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