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| Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra | |
|---|---|
| Youth Orchestra | |
| Short name | SYSO |
| Founded | 1942 |
| Concert hall | Benaroya Hall, Meany Hall for the Performing Arts |
| Website | syso |
Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras (SYSO) is the largest youth symphony organization and youth orchestra training program in the United States, [1] as well as the eighth oldest.
The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, the organization's oldest orchestra, was founded by the Music and Art Foundation in 1942, and its first conductor was Francis Aranyi. [2] [3] [4] [5] He was an internationally famous violinist who performed with many of the greatest orchestras in Europe, and knew such leading composers as Béla Bartók and Arnold Schoenberg. [6] In 1941 Aranyi came to Seattle as concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony, a position he retained for one season. Although his arrival was concurrent with the hiring of Sir Thomas Beecham as conductor, Aranyi was hired separately and was not chosen for the position by the conductor. [7] [8] During Aranyi's direction of the Youth Symphony, he built up the group to an orchestra that was nationally recognized. Following establishment of the Little Symphony (now the Seattle Debut Symphony) in 1946, this training orchestra was advertised as "a reserve group for promotion to the major Youth Symphony," and traced its roots to a Preparatory Ensemble which had been established in 1943. [9] [10] The Little Symphony presented its first public concert on June 7, 1947. [11] Thomas Rodrique became its conductor in 1950. Francis Aranyi and Thomas Rodrique were the musical staff of the Youth Symphony Orchestra for the Pacific Northwest, as the organization was then called, until 1959. [6]
For its first two years, it was called the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Seattle. From 1944 to 1963, it was the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Pacific Northwest. Vilem Sokol led the orchestra for 28 years (1960-1988), and it was under him that the YSO became the fourth orchestra in the United States to perform Gustav Mahler's Tenth Symphony. After the London Symphony Orchestra gave its premiere, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, [12] and the San Francisco Symphony [13] had been the only orchestras in the world to have performed the work. Under conductor Sokol, the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra made two recordings of Mahler's Tenth Symphony in its entirety.
After Sokol's departure in 1988, the symphony was led by conductors Ruben Gurevich (1988–93) and Jonathan Shames (1994-2001). [3]
SYSO's Music Director was Dr. Stephen Rogers Radcliffe from 2006 to 2018. In 2019, Juan Felipe Molano became conductor.
SYSO-in-the-Schools support public school instrumental music programs by providing instruction in 25 Seattle-area public schools serving over 600 students annually, and the Marrowstone Summer Festival provides learning for over 500 students ages 7 to 25 each summer.
The Academic-Year Orchestra Program serves over 490 students each year through four symphonic orchestras, one string orchestra, and two extracurricular ensembles serving the South Seattle community.
In 2022, Music Youth Southeast (MYSE) was begun. MYSE is an extracurricular orchestral ensemble that was created in partnership with the community of South Seattle. It is open and tuition-free to musicians grades 6-12 with at least one year of experience. It is conducted by Kim Roy.
Launched in 2023, Cadenza is an after-school program that brings together fourth and fifth graders across Southeast Seattle. These string musicians participate in rehearsals, masterclasses, and concerts, led by Daniel Mullikin, Kim Roy, and Matt Hopper.
SYSO also offers three summer music programs. The Marrowstone Music Festival, hosted by Western Washington University in Bellingham, serves around 185 musicians aged 14-24 with a two-week intensive summer program. Faculty members and guest performers at Marrowstone have included Dale Clevenger, Glenn Dicterow, and Simone Porter(external link). Up until 2020, two sessions of Marrowstone in the City (MITC) were held in suburbs that surround Seattle, and served over 330 younger players annually. [14]
SYSO and the Seattle Conservatory of Music work with local schools through the Endangered Instruments Program, started by Walter Cole, a project that exposes students to less commonly played instruments including oboe, bassoon, percussion, viola, double bass, tuba, trombone, and horn. The first of its kind in the United States, the program has been emulated in many other cities worldwide, including New York City, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Vancouver, B.C. EIP partners with 13 Seattle-area public schools to serve over 170 students a year. Participation in the EIP is tuition-free for students who also participate in SYSO's Academic Year Orchestra Program. [15]
Through all of its programs, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras serves over 1,100 young musicians each year. Its concerts reach over 14,000, and are replayed over KING-FM to audiences in excess of 200,000.
SYSO regularly receives funding and grants from individuals, foundations, schools, and government agencies. In November 2008, the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras received a grant of $500,000 from the Wallace foundation.
The Seattle Conservatory of Music (SCM) is a program in Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. It is targeted toward the more dedicated students of music, who wish to learn more about theory and composition. The SCM consists of Academic Classes (Musicianship, Composition & Music Production, Exploring Creativity & Music, and Collegiate Preparatory), and of Performance Classes (Chamber Music, Single-Instrument/Family Ensembles, Conducting, and Group Drumming). [16]
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An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
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The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Hall, and is home to approximately 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies, and 1,500 more in its Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education. NEC offers bachelor's degrees in instrumental and vocal classical music performance, contemporary musical arts, composition, jazz studies, music history, and music theory, as well as graduate degrees in collaborative piano, conducting, and musicology. The conservatory has also partnered with Harvard University and Tufts University to create joint double-degree, five-year programs.
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Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) is an orchestral music education organization in Chicago, Illinois that was founded in 1946 to provide music education and instrumental training of the highest quality to Chicago area youth.
Minnesota Youth Symphonies, commonly referred to as MYS, was founded in 1972 by Ralph Winkler. The program has five orchestras composed of students from elementary level through high school, with participation's based on an annual audition. All levels of MYS perform at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, as well as other locations, and hosts workshops and classes.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when music teacher Mary V. Dodge began playing music for local children in Burns, Oregon. Dodge purchased instruments for the children and organized the orchestra, which would become known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. After touring the state, including a performance at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, the orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge moved to Portland. There, Dodge opened a violin school and became music director of the Irvington School Orchestra.
California Youth Symphony (CYS) is a San Francisco Bay Area symphony orchestra for young musicians of high school age and younger. It was founded in 1952 by Aaron Sten and in 1963 became the first United States youth orchestra to tour abroad, performing twelve concerts in Japan, including a joint concert with Tokyo Junior Orchestra Society. Since then, the orchestra has toured Mexico, Australia, Uruguay, Argentina and several countries in Europe and Asia. In 1994, the orchestra placed first in the International Youth and Music Festival Competition in Vienna. The orchestra has also collaborated with youth orchestras in Japan and in Switzerland. During the summer of 2014, the orchestra toured in Eastern Europe, and performed in Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. Leo Eylar has been musical director since 1990.
Vilem Sokol was a Czech-American conductor and professor of music at the University of Washington from 1948 to 1985, where he taught violin, viola, conducting, as well as music appreciation classes directed primarily toward non-music majors. He was conductor of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras from 1960 to 1988, and principal violist of the Seattle Symphony from 1959 to 1963. He was the featured soloist with the Seattle Symphony for subscription concerts held March 7 and 8, 1960, performing Harold in Italy by Hector Berlioz.
The Schulich School of Music is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, Rue Sherbrooke Ouest. The faculty was named after the benefactor Seymour Schulich.
The Sudbury Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based Sudbury, Ontario. Incorporated in 1975 as a not-for-profit registered charity, the orchestra performs a season of full orchestra concerts and chamber music concerts at a variety of venues in Sudbury, including the Sanctuary of Glad Tidings Church, on Regent Street South, and Fraser Auditorium at Laurentian University.
Zachary Carrettin is an American violinist, violist, conductor, and music educator. Carrettin is currently the Music Director of Boulder Bach Festival.
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New England String Ensemble was founded in 1993 by violinist Peter Stickel and cellist John Bumstead to champion strings in performance and education and is one of the country's leading professional string orchestras. The ensemble consists of 26 professional string musicians who perform four concert programs a year at both the Rogers Center for the Arts in North Andover, Massachusetts and New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. It is led by conductor and music director, Federico Cortese, and performs music from the 17th century to the present.
The Norwalk Youth Symphony (NYS) is an American symphony orchestra for high school aged and younger students. The symphony is based in Norwalk, Connecticut. Established in 1956, the symphony includes students from Connecticut and some parts of New York. The NYS has been regarded as one of the best youth orchestras in the region. In Norwalk, the NYS performs at Norwalk City Hall at least 3 times per year. The NYS has performed at the Stamford Town Center, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the United Nations. The NYS has also performed outside of the United States in such countries as the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, and Germany.
The Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra (RDYO) is an orchestral training program for young musicians located in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The RDYO was formerly known as the Delta Youth Orchestra. The name was changed in March 2013. In September 2014 moved its base to Richmond, British Columbia. It previously rehearsed at the Ladner Community Centre, 4734 - 51st Street, Delta, British Columbia. The RDYO is sponsored by the BC Youth Music Society (formerly the Delta Symphony Society which is a registered non-profit charity and the society provides this orchestral and chamber music training program for young musicians from ages 5 to 24 years. The Orchestra was founded in 1971 by Harry Gomez, Fred Preuss, Charles Glushka, Anita Sleeman, and Aileen Docherty.
Huw Edwards is a Welsh conductor. Edwards' conducting career began at age seventeen when he became music director of the Maidstone Opera Company in England. He later attended the University of Surrey, where he conducted the college orchestra along with an ensemble that he formed himself. At age twenty-three, he won a conducting competition which sent him to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He then held a lecturer position at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he was also a doctoral candidate. Edwards was conductor and music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic from 1995 to 2002 followed by the Seattle Youth Symphony from 2002 to 2005. He served as music director of the Portland Columbia Symphony from 2000 to 2012 and with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2020.
The Marrowstone Music Festival is an orchestral training program that takes place in the Pacific Northwest. The program is targeted at high school and college students, around 200 of which play in the program annually.
The National Youth Orchestra of China is a full symphony youth orchestra composed of approximately 100 Chinese musicians aged 14 to 21 years old. Students from all over China audition to participate in a two-week training residency before performing alongside a renowned soloist and conductor in premier venues throughout the world.
