A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion families of instruments, and occasionally including the harp, double bass, or bass guitar. On rare occasions, additional, non-traditional instruments may be added to such ensembles such as piano, synthesizer, or electric guitar.
Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras (SYSO) is the largest youth symphony organization and youth orchestra training program in the United States, as well as the eighth oldest.
The San Jose Youth Symphony (SJYS) is a non-profit youth orchestra located in San Jose, California.
Northwestern High School is a public comprehensive and magnet high school in Hyattsville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system. Northwestern High School is located on Adelphi Road, less than a mile away from the University of Maryland, College Park. The school first opened in 1951. In 2000, the original building was demolished and replaced with the current facility, which has 386,000 square feet (35,900 m2) of land and a capacity of 2,700 students. Northwestern is the second-largest high school in the state of Maryland when measured by total square footage.
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 Louisville Youth Orchestra (LYO) was founded in 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky. The orchestra caters for young people from grade school through age 21. The LYO is made up of four orchestras, two elementary string programs, and various ensembles in which students advance according to their own musical progression and interests. There are nearly 400 musicians from 60 schools and 15 counties in the Louisville & Southern Indiana metro area.
Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts 6–12 (CAPA) is a magnet school located in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CAPA is one of four 6th to 12th grade schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. It was formed from a merger between CAPA High School and Rogers CAPA Middle School.
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.
Empire State Youth Orchestras (ESYO) is an ensemble of classical music performing groups aimed at providing talented young musicians with an opportunity to participate in group ensembles with other similar musicians. Based in the Capital Region of upstate New York, ESYO ensembles are composed of a total of approximately 300 talented and musically advanced high- and middle-school students from New York and western New England. The most advanced group, the Symphony Orchestra, is considered one of the premier youth orchestras in the United States, and regularly performs concerts at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood Music Center, and Carnegie Hall and in New York City.
Western Australian Charity Orchestra Inc (WACO) is a not-for-profit charity organisation dedicated to changing lives through music. Their current ensembles include a full symphony orchestra – the West Coast Philharmonic, the West Coast Philharmonic Chorus and the WA Wind Symphony – all based in Perth, Western Australia. All ensembles are made up almost entirely of volunteers, and for many years the WACO produced concerts to help fund-raise for Western Australian charities. In 2017 WACO Inc became an Australian Registered charity in their own right, and now their volunteers work in the community to make a difference first-hand in the lives of others.
The Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra (GDYO) is a youth orchestra in Dallas, Texas, US, founded in 1972. GDYO has grown from a single orchestra of 35 members to a program of over 450 members. The principal group is the eponymous symphony, presently under the direction of the Maestro Richard Giangiulio. The organization as a whole comprises ten groups, which together provide musical opportunities for students from ages five to eighteen. Auditions are held each spring. Coaches and judges come from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera, Dallas Winds, and area universities and orchestras. The ensembles include two full symphonies, flute choir, clarinet choir, wind symphony, three string orchestras, jazz orchestra, and a jazz combo. The mission of Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra is to inspire and cultivate excellence in youth through music education, ensemble building, and performance opportunities.
El Sistema is a publicly financed, voluntary sector, music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu. It later adopted the motto "Music for Social Change." El Sistema-inspired programs provide what the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies describes as "free classical music education that promotes human opportunity and development for impoverished children." El Sistema has inspired similar programmes in more than 60 other countries. By 2015, according to official figures, El Sistema included more than 400 music centers and 700,000 young musicians. The original program in Venezuela involves four after-school hours of musical training and rehearsal each week, plus additional work on the weekends.
The Centre for Young Musicians, or CYM, is a specialist Saturday music centre formed in 1970 and based at Morley College in London, England. It offers musical training to students 5 to 18 who play a musical instrument and has seen more than 50,000 students pass through its doors since it first began.
The Dubuque Symphony Orchestra is a non-union, fully professional orchestra located in Dubuque, Iowa. It serves the residents of Dubuque and its surrounding tri-state area which includes 12 counties in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Under Music Director William Intriligator, over 75 professional musicians perform a repertoire of classical, chamber, opera and pops concerts each year. The DSO performs an average of 12 different concerts a year with a total of 25 performances.
Northgate High School (NHS) is a public high school located in the suburban Northgate neighborhood of Walnut Creek, California, United States. The most recent of five high schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District, the school was built in 1974, and is home to approximately 1,500 students from Walnut Creek and Concord, California, grades 9–12. Its name derives from its location at the north entrance of Mount Diablo State Park.
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.
Founded in 1976, the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestras (EYSO) is the oldest and largest youth orchestra program in northwest Illinois and is composed of three full orchestras, two string orchestras, a brass choir, two percussion ensembles, a flute choir, and a large Chamber Music Institute.
The University of California Jazz Ensembles, also known as the UC Jazz Ensembles, UC Jazz, or UCJE, is the student jazz organization founded in 1967 on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. Founded in 1967, it comprises one or more big bands, numerous jazz combos, a vocal jazz ensemble, an alumni big band, and instructional classes. With a mission statement to foster a community for the performance, study, and promotion of jazz at U.C. Berkeley, its Wednesday Night big band provides free concerts every Thursday noon on Lower Sproul Plaza, its various units perform throughout the San Francisco Bay Area including area high schools, travel to collegiate jazz festivals, and perform overseas, and for many years it sponsored the annual Pacific Coast Jazz Festival. It also provides master classes by its instructors and clinics by prominent guest artists. It has nurtured numerous musicians who have become professional jazz musicians and educators. UC Jazz Ensembles is one of three groups, with the Cal (marching) Band and UC Choral Ensembles, forming Student Musical Activities (SMA), a department within Cal Performances on the U.C. Berkeley campus. Its members are primarily U.C. Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students, representing many academic disciplines.
The InterSchool Orchestras of New York (ISO) was founded in 1972 by Annabelle F. Prager as a response to the limited opportunities for school children in both public and private schools to play in an orchestra. It has since grown to include three beginning orchestras, an intermediate band, two intermediate orchestras, a symphonic band, and an advanced orchestra. An essential part of its mission is that no child ever be turned away because of lack of financial resources; 50% of its students receive some financial aid, including all members of the top orchestra. Its music director for much of its history was Jonathan Strasser.
The Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy (OYOA) is a registered Canadian charitable organization that comprises two full orchestras, eight instrumental ensembles for strings, winds, brass and harp, a beginner's and pre-school program, and instruction in music theory and history through Grade 3 in the RCM Syllabus.
