Williamsburg Youth Orchestra

Last updated May 05, 2019

The Williamsburg Youth Orchestra (WYO) is a symphony orchestra and string orchestra based in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is composed of grade schoolers, any age between 8-19. The current director and Symphony Orchestra Conductor is Mr. David Grandis. The Strings Orchestras director is Karey Sitzler.

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as the violin, viola, cello, and double bass, brass instruments such as the horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba, woodwinds such as the flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, and percussion instruments such as the timpani, bass drum, triangle, snare drum and cymbals, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.

A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first and second violin players, the viola, the cello, and usually, but not always, the double bass.

Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 14,068. In 2014, the population was estimated to be 14,691. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County and York County.

History

The WYO was originally formed in 1995 by local musicians and parents, who wanted a full symphonic orchestra for local instrumentalists. Since 1995, the orchestra have played at least three concerts every year, performing at different locations almost every time.

Related groups

In addition to the two large ensembles, there are also several small chamber groups that have one large concert at the end of the season.

Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.

WYO holds a concerto competition every year. In this competition, students perform their practiced concerto in front a board of judges and an audience, and the winners are awarded the chance to perform the concerto with the symphony orchestra at the next concert.

A concerto is a musical composition generally composed of three movements, in which, usually, one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra or concert band. It is accepted that its characteristics and definition have changed over time. In the 17th century, sacred works for voices and orchestra were typically called concertos, as reflected by J. S. Bach's usage of the title "concerto" for many of the works that we know as cantatas.

Orchestra Practices

The respective groups meet at a local middle school in Williamsburg for once-a-week practices on Monday.

Other occasions

The symphony orchestra has played with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra on January 27, 2008. The concert was held at the Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University in a "side-by-side" concert. The symphony has played in a similar venue and format with the Williamsburg Symphonia in 2015.

The Virginia Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is an American orchestra administratively based in Norfolk. The VSO's current music director is JoAnn Falletta, since 1991. The VSO's current president and chief executive officer is Karen Philion.

The Ferguson Center for the Arts is a theater and concert hall on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, United States. The complex fully opened in September 2005 with two concert halls and many other facilities.

Christopher Newport University (CNU) is a public liberal arts university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU is the youngest comprehensive university in the commonwealth of Virginia. The institution is named after Christopher Newport, who was a buccaneer and captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607, on their way to found Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Performance spaces

During the 2007-2008 season, all of the concerts (excluding the side-by-side with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra) have been in the auditorium at Warhill High School. Previously, the concerts have been in various other places, ranging from churches to schools such as Lafayette High School and Bruton High School. Since 2010, the concerts have been held in the Kimball Theatre in Colonial Williamsburg.

Warhill High School is a public high school operated by the Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools (WJCC). Serving the joint school division of the independent city of Williamsburg and James City County, Virginia, the school is located at 4615 Opportunity Way, in the Lightfoot area of the county.

Bruton High School is a high school located North of Williamsburg in the unincorporated community of Lightfoot in York County, Virginia.

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