Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras

The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, formerly known as the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, changed its name in March 2007. The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) is an organization comprising four orchestras, a chamber music program, and a community program. Members include student musicians of elementary and secondary school age. The orchestras are in residence at Boston University's College of Fine Arts but perform at a number of locations including Boston's Symphony Hall, Sanders Theater at Harvard University, the Hatch Memorial Shell, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Its members audition every year, regardless of previous acceptance. The BYSO discourages the typical system of seating an orchestra's string players by "rank" (proficiency at one's instrument) commonly found in other youth and professional orchestras; instead, the organization rotates its seatings frequently to encourage non-competitiveness, even the principal (section leader) chairs.

History

The orchestras were founded in 1958 by Dr. Robert Choate, chairman of the music division of Boston University. Past conductors have included Marvin Rabin, Dr. Artin Arslanian, Walter Eisenberg, Leonard Atherton, Eiji Oue, and David Commanday. See [http://www.gbyso.org/result.cfm?v=1&w=0&x=0&y=0&z=0&topic=content/about/history.cfm BYSO official website] for expanded history.

In addition to playing the standard orchestral repertoire, the Orchestras have from time to time commissioned new works. In June 1995, the Senior Orchestra was joined by violinist Lynn Chang and cellist Yo-Yo Ma to perform the world premiere of Ivan Tcherepnin's "Double Concerto for Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra".

Orchestras

Boston Youth Symphony

The Boston Youth Symphony, formerly Senior Orchestra, is BYSO's highest level ensemble reserved for players with highly advanced technical and musical skills. Directed by Federico Cortese, who is assisted by Mark Miller, the full symphony orchestra regularly performs in Boston area concert halls and tours internationally every two years. Past tours have included:

*2006: Spain, Portugal
*2004: Russia, Estonia, Latvia
*2002: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary
*2000: France
*1998: England/Ireland
*1996: Italy In 2008, the Boston Youth Symphony was invited to play in the prestigious Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany. The 50th anniversary tour will include Leipzig, Prague, Brno, and Augsburg. The Boston Youth Symphony is also divided into the Sinfonietta and Camerata chamber orchestras.

The Boston Youth Symphony holds a concerto competition each year. The competition winner performs with the orchestra at one of the season's concerts.

This year, for their 50th anniversary, the Boston Youth Symphony will be joined by great artists such as Yo-Yo Ma playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto in Symphony Hall

Repertory Orchestra

The Repertory Orchestra is an advanced, full symphony orchestra under the direction of conductor Joel Bard. It performs with the Senior Orchestra at its three main concerts and performs individual concerts at Boston University's Tsai Center.

It is divided into the Rep. Sinfonietta and Rep. Comerata chamber orchestras, a change as of the 2005-2006 season.

The Repertory Orchestra also holds a yearly concerto competition. Winners perform their concertos at one of the concerts during the season.

Junior Repertory Orchestra

The Junior Repertory Orchestra (JRO), conducted by Adrian Slywotzky, was created in 1991 to foster the development of younger players in intermediate level string ensembles. Due to growth in ability, the JRO is now a full symphonic ensemble.

Members receive group and individual coaching, which enables them to build solid, fundamental technical and musical skills.

Young People's String Orchestra

The Young People's String Orchestra (YPSO) was created as a training grounds for BYSO's youngest musicians. Directed by Bonnie Black, this young orchestra performs major repertoire from the standard string orchestra literature while learning the skills needed for excellent orchestral playing. It is an energetic and collaborative ensemble that emphasizes teamwork and leadership development.

Preparatory Wind Ensemble

The Preparatory Wind Ensemble (PWE) is the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras' newest ensemble, beginning its first season in 2006-2007. The PWE is designed to teach young wind players the fundamental skills necessary for successful orchestral playing. The ensemble is based on an orchestra wind section, training the members to become future wind players in other BYSO orchestras. As members of the PWE, students will develop basic techniques of ensemble participation, which will help prepare them for future orchestra membership. The PWE is under the direction of Janet Underhill.

External links

* [http://www.bysoweb.org BYSO official website]