GIHS student to play with BPO

Alexander Cousins of Grand Island will join the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert July 1 at Knox Farm in East Aurora.

Cousins, a cellist, will perform Camille Saint-Saens' "Concerto No. 1 in A Minor for Cello and Orchestra." The concert is free to attend.

Cousins is a 2014 graduate of Grand Island High School and was the third-place winner of the Friends of the BPO Scholarship, earning $1,000 toward his continued music education. He participated in the BPO's inaugural season of master classes, performing for cellist Zuill Bailey.

A student of BPO principal cellist Roman Mekinulov, Cousins began his involvement in music in grade five and has continued through high school (orchestra, symphonic orchestra, chamber orchestra, concert choir, and jazz band). Other music activities that Cousins has participated in are Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra, with whom he performed a concerto; Niagara Music Educator's Association Orchestra playing bass in grade 9; Erie County Music Educators' Association Orchestra playing cello; New York State School Music Association Area All-State String Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra; Cheektowaga Symphony Orchestra; and STAGE Summer Pit Orchestra.

Academically, Cousins is enrolled in the Advanced Regents College Preparatory Curriculum. He is also very involved in his church's Worship Team, Inspire Bible Study, and Young Life Ministries.

Cousins is the 2014 winner of both a Buffalo Chamber Music Society's Silverman Scholarship and a $3,000 ECMEA Student Scholarship.

The free performance kicks off the summer season for the BPO Associate Conductor Matthew Kraemer will lead the orchestra in a concert featuring light classics by Leroy Anderson, Dvorak, and Strauss. Music by John Williams, Henry Mancini and tributes to Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin will round out the program.

Other performances in the BPO season include:

•Thursday, July 3 - Independence Eve with the Bisons, Coca-Cola Field at 10 p.m. Tickets are available at www.bisons.com.

•Saturday, July 5 - Ellicottville Summer Music Festival at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at www.ellicottvilleny.com.

•Friday, July 18 - Rising Stars of the Stradivari Society, Kleinhans Music Hall, 7 p.m. Tickets available at www.bpo.org.

•Saturday, July 19 - Doctors of the World Orchestra, Kleinhans Music Hall, 8 p.m. Tickets are available at www.bpo.org.  

•Wednesday, July 23 - Seventh annual Midsummer Celebration presented by William and Judith Scheide, Princeton University, 8 p.m.