3 PA Cyber Student Musicians Perform on National Public Radio's "From the Top" Broadcasts

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three rising young classical musicians who happen also to be enrolled in the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School will be featured in nationwide radio broadcasts of "From the Top," a preeminent showcase for young musicians heard weekly by 700,000 listeners on National Public Radio stations.

PA Cyber students Daniel Orsen, 17, a violist from Pittsburgh, and pianist/composer Aleksandr Voinov, 14, of Sewickley, Pa., will be among teenage musicians on stage at 8 p.m. this Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Music Hall.

A third PA Cyber Charter School student, Gordon Neidinger, 17, also from Pittsburgh,  traveled to Boston and played the mandolin in a Feb. 4 episode of "From the Top" before a live audience at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall.

The three PA Cyber students, all of whom are training for high-level careers in music, are acquainted with each other but applied and auditioned completely independently for the chance to perform on the nationally broadcast show. "From the Top" public relations officials said Orsen, Neidinger and Voinov were chosen on their merits; the fact that all three attend the same school was both unusual and coincidental.

PA Cyber CEO Dr. Nick Trombetta said talented, self-motivated students who are achieving at elite levels in music, performing arts, and athletics choose PA Cyber because it gives them the scheduling flexibility to pursue their passions and begin their careers while still in high school.

Parents of the three young musicians cited the quality of instruction and curriculum offered by PA Cyber along with scheduling flexibility as reasons for enrolling. They said their sons practice music four to six hours daily, with frequent intense periods of preparation for performances and competitions – a life schedule hampered by daily attendance requirements of a traditional classroom school. All three have won numerous musical honors, and perform and compete across the country at major events.

PA Cyber is Pennsylvania's first, largest, and most successful public cyber charter school, with an enrollment of 11,000 students in grades K-12. Contacts are www.pacyber.org and 1.888.PACYBER.

In Tuesday's concert at Carnegie Music Hall, Orsen is to play the fourth movement from Sonata in F-minor by Johannes Brahms, accompanied on the piano by "From the Top" host, and Pittsburgh's own, Christopher O'Riley. Voinov is to perform Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 by Frederic Chopin.

(People may purchase tickets to the Pittsburgh show at http://www.showclix.com/event/204745 or calling 1-888-71-TICKETS. Tickets range from $12 to $30 for adults and $6 to $15 for students and senior citizens. To learn more about "From the Top," people may go to www.fromthetop.org.)

The Pittsburgh episode, presented locally by the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University, will air nationally the week of March 5 and on local media sponsor Classical WQED-FM 89.3 Saturday, March 10, at 5 p.m.

In the Boston show taped on Feb. 4, Neidinger played mandolin, accompanied by host Christopher O'Riley on the piano. Neidinger performed Doina and Variations on the E-flat Sirba, an original composition of his mandolin teacher, Charley Rappaport.

The Boston episode will air nationally the week of Feb. 20,and locally on WQED 89.3FM on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m.

About "From the Top"

What began as a radio experiment in 2000 quickly became one of the fastest growing and most popular weekly classical music programs on public radio. Broadcast on nearly 250 stations nationwide to an audience of more than 700,000 listeners each week, "From the Top" has been described by the Boston Globe as, "an entertaining, accessible and inspirational mix of outstanding musical performances, informal interviews, skits and games, the show is a celebration of extraordinary musicians who happen to be teenagers leading fairly normal lives."

Contact: Fred Miller, 724.777.5918

SOURCE PA Cyber Charter School