Sustaining Sponsor
Deby and Jamie Fellowes
Category Archives: Academy Concerts
2023 Academy Spring Concert
ACADEMY SPRING CONCERT
4 PM, MAY 7, 2023
St. John Lutheran Church
WHEATON
The Academy Spring Concert will take place on May 7 and will feature the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass performed by Lawrence Hall.
The Academy Orchestra will perform Elgar’s Spanish Lady Suite and Rhosymedre by Vaughan Williams – a Welsh tune meaning “lovely” arranged for string orchestra. There will be short illustrations and introductions and lyrical works.
The Academy was featured in 2021 on the 98.7 WFMT radio show Introductions.
Enjoy a delightful afternoon for only $20 a ticket. Students (16+) can attend for $5 and children can attend for free!
Pictured: Double Bass Soloist Lawrence Hall (Top Left and below) and the Camerata Chicago Academy Orchestra.
Camerata Chicago Academy Roster
Academy Orchestra
Musicians Roster
Violin I
Amelia Piscitelli, concertmaster *
Audrianna Hall
Abby Edwards
Violin II
Tabitha Rea
Sarra Gadzhieva
Heide Brazier
Laine Van Cleave
Viola
Helen Gordeuk
Joanna Nerius *
Aleksia Nenadovich
Cello
Zoe Douthit *
Nathan Yu
Bass
Lawrence Hall
* Faculty
Concert Venue St. John Lutheran Church
Venue:
St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton
410 N Cross St
Wheaton, IL 60187
Academy Biography
Founded in 2014, the Camerata Chicago Academy is an elite chamber orchestra program comprising advanced students. The Academy provides a marvelous opportunity for young musicians to perform in a professional atmosphere with the Camerata Chicago faculty which manifests the educational spirit of Camerata Chicagoís founder and Music Director Drostan Hall. Maestro Hall has thirty years experience training aspiring young musicians. Many of the Academy’s members plan to study music at university and subsequently go on to have professional careers in music.

The Junior Academy Orchestra
Amelia Piscitelli, violin
Amelia Piscitelli graduated as Salutatorian from Hammond Baptist High School (Schererville, IN) in May 2019. She is currently enrolled as a Music Performance major at Hyles-Anderson College, a Bible college in Crown Point, IN. Amelia has played violin since 2005 and began to study violin seriously with Stephanie Allen in 2008. From 2009-2014 her violin studies continued with Debbie Edwards (Downers Grove Suzuki Strings) followed by Drostan Hall (Hall School of Music) from 2014 to the present.
She joined Camerata Chicago Academy in 2015 and has been Concertmaster since 2017. In December 2016 she performed live on WFMT’s Introductions (Chicago, IL). Since then her professional experience with Camerata Chicago has also included solo opportunities. Her professional solo debut performing the Svendsen Romance in 2016; performing the Bach Double with Mathias Tacke in 2017; soloist for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in 2017 and 2018; soloist as part of the Wheaton College Artist Series in 2019. DMD Records recently released her first solo recording in July 2019 of the Vivaldi Four Seasons. She is often requested to participate in vocal groups at FBC Hammond as a violinist and vocalist.
Academy 2020 Videos
Recording Session December 18, 2020
Senior Academy
There are 8 Videos in this playlist:
1 Bach A minor Violin Concerto BWV 1041 Movt 1
Soloist – Tabitha Rea
2 Beethoven Piano Quartet in C major, WoO 36 No. 1 Movt 1.
Soloist – Kate Johnston
Expanded for string orchestra
Mozart Symphony No 15 in G Major
3 Movt 1 Allegro
4 Movt 2 Andante
5 Movt 3 Minuet & Trio
6 Movt 4 Presto
7 Mascagni Intermezzo for Cavaliera Rusticana
8 Shostakovich Waltz No. 2
(From Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra)
Junior Academy
There are 3 Videos in this playlist:
1 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.4 Movt. 3
2 Kuchler Concertino in D Movt. 1
3 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.4 Movt. 3 – Section Principals
Junior Academy Section Principals
Audrianna Hall
Helen Gordeuk
Eva Dalmas
Iselin Byars
Lawrence Hall
For more Academy videos head over to Academy Videos.
98.7 WFMT Broadcast: Academy featured on Introductions show
The WFMT radio show Introductions is to feature the Academy Orchestra. The show will be broadcast on Saturday, March 27 at 11 am by Robbie Ellis, Presenter and Producer. The show will air our recent recordings of Mozart’s Symphony No 15 and Shostakovich and an interview with Academy member Patience Smith.
Vivaldi Four Seasons Educational Double Album
Purchase our new CD of the Vivaldi Four Seasons,
the first ever educational recording with explanations
and over twenty excerpts illustrating his clever sound effects,
performed by virtuoso violinist Amelia Piscitelli
and narrated by Steve Robinson of WFMT fame.