March featured with Haydn & Brahms on Feb. 18
Three of the top artists in the world are performing on their hometown stage over the next few weeks, and all three of them are Bishop Heelan graduates.
The three world-class artists and BHCS grads — cellist Stephanie March, tenor John Osborn and Academy Award nominee Ron Clements — are all coming to perform with the Sioux City Symphony. March gets the trio started with a performance, “Hadyn & Brahms, featuring Stephanie March,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 at the Orpheum.
“It’s a thrill for us and our audiences to be featuring artists who have ties to this region,” said Dr. Richard Steinbach, Executive Director of the Sioux City Symphony. Steinbach and March were guests on Monday’s episode of “Faith In Action with Joanne Fox” on Siouxland Catholic Radio.
March is a 2007 graduate of Heelan High School. She started in the system as a sixth grader at Mater Dei, then transitioned over to the high school.
Currently, she’s the principal cellist with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.
“I think one of the most wonderful things about going through the Catholic system is how it instilled a wonderful sense of discipline, and to have honesty and integrity in everything you do,” March said. “All the teachers I had went above and beyond to be so supportive of what I was doing as a musician.”
March’s most fond memory, she said, came during her senior year. She was playing in her final concert as a Crusader, and she played Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” in 2007. That was her final concert before she left for the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
March then earned her Master’s in cello performance at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
March said that she’s thrilled that there is a new fine arts building at Heelan. When she was a student, Clements was there to host an assembly for the students.
Later this spring, March will be in the orchestra, playing the “Aladdin” soundtrack live during the April 22 concert with Clements in attendance.
“It’s a full-circle moment,” March said.
March said she hopes students come out to enjoy the music at all three concerts. She attended concerts as a young girl and that inspired her to become the cellist she is today.
“It’s important for kids to have access to the arts,” she said. “It’s wonderful that we have a symphony for kids to have the opportunity to attend these concerts."
Osborn performs March 11.
For tickets, click here.