GCYO's 2007-2008 Season: It Happened Suddenly, But Only After A Long Time

Greenville County Youth Orchestra's October 18th Young Artist Concert No.1 will take place at the Peace Center's Dorothy Gunter Theater. The concert starts at 8:00 PM. Tickets for this event, as well as for GCYO's entire Young Artist Series, are now on sale at the Peace Center Box office. Admission is $10.00.

There is no special name for this concert. If it had a theme, however, it would be something like, "Never Underestimate a Teenager with an a Talent, an Instrument, and a Dream." On the surface of it, GCYO's concerts, featuring 56 of the most talented student musicians in the Upstate, are remarkable for what the kids have set out to accomplish. Unlike most youth concerts, which sample single-movement orchestral pieces and selected movements from larger works, GCYO students will perform complete symphonies and concerti showcasing soloists from their own ranks. Their October 18th concert will feature Brahms's Academic Festival Overture, a work frequently associated with youth ensembles because of its school associations - Brahms composed the overture to celebrate an honorary doctorate awarded to him by the University of Breslau in 1880 - but consisting of adult-strength musical demands. GCYO Principal Cello Seth Russell will then serve as soloist in Camille Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 Opus 33. Haydn's Symphony No. 104 ("London") will fill out the second half of the concert.

GCYO's 2007-2008 season is a summit - an arrival point - on a journey that began in 2000 with the 33rd and final performance of the Singing Christmas Tree, a production with which GCYO had been closely associated for over three decades. The loss of this concert presented the GCYO staff and parent association with an opportunity to develop the artistic character of the orchestra and to achieve new a new goal: to create a youth orchestra that met national standards in the education it offered its members, as well as one that could stand on its own as a contributer to Greenville's rich artistic culture. They have made many steps towards achieving this goal in the intervening years. The following are just a few:

* Top-Down Development of the School District's Orchestra Program GCYO is the "last stop" in the School District's after-school orchestra program. Its foundation is three other orchestras - Junior Sinfonia, Sinfonia, and The Philharmonic - that build orchestral skills in students starting in grade six and continuing through senior year in high school. Greenville County School's Fine Arts Department (the current Coordinator is Diane Lee) and strings teachers have worked closely with GCYO in developing, refining, and improving this entire system, thus providing more rigorous (and exciting) training for participating students, and creating system that prepares them for eventual entry into Greenville County Youth Orchestra.

Of GCYO's three "step-up orchestras," The Philharmonic (see http://www.gcyo.net/philharmonic.htm) has undergone changes that are most dramatic and have had the greatest impact on Greenville County Youth Orchestra. Originally called "String Ensemble," this penultimate step in the School District's orchestra program was for many years a strings-only organization that would add winds and brass players for an end-of-the-year concert. Since 2000, this group has become a full orchestra, has acquired a new name, and has committed itself to making challenging musical and organizational improvements each year. Under the direction of Kathleen Robinson, The Philharmonic now rehearses and performs repertoire that was once the domain of Greenville County Youth Orchestra, thus providing its members with more exacting training and a shorter step up into GCYO.

* Raised Audition Standards and Profile
Youth orchestras always have to find a balance of having a full instrumentation ("Do we have enough viola players? Will we have pairs of oboes and bassoons in the orchestra this year?") with grouping members by their ability to play on a similar - high - level. GCYO has gradually raised and refined requirements for each wave of new members. Routinely counted as members of All-State bands and orchestras, winners of local, state, and national music competitions, GCYO members now rank among the most accomplished young musicians in the state. Many attend the Fine Arts Center's strings and winds chamber music programs, among the only daily programs of their kind in the nation.

Along with dramatically increasing enrollments for its daytime classes, the new Fine Arts Center has increased the visibility of its Orchestra-in-Residence, and along with it, interest in Greenville County Youth Orchestra.

• Change in Emphasis from Small Symphony Orchestra to Large Chamber Orchestra.
For about 20 years, GCYO existed as two orchestras: a larger symphony orchestra whose students encompassed a relatively wide ability range and a smaller chamber orchestra designed for the most skilled players. The "big" GCYO would rehearse for two and a half hours and chamber for about 45 minutes prior to their rehearsal. With improved audition standards and an excellent training culture established in The Philharmonic, GCYO's membership could now focus on "the most skilled players" exclusively. Starting this season, the full and chamber orchestra rehearsal times were combined into one three-hour session, which allows the students and conductor time to play complete works and to examine their inner workings in minute detail.As additional incentive for ongoing achievement, GCYO members receive as full honors level credit through the Fine Arts Center for their successful participation.

* Technological Development
GCYO is the Orchestra-in-Residence at Greenville's Fine Arts Center, which moved into its new facility on a campus with Wade Hampton High School in January of this year. An acoustically sensitive, dual-purpose recital/rehearsal room was designed with GCYO in mind. Equipped with mics and connected to a state-of-the-art recording studio, this room allows GCYO the opportunity to record each rehearsal, to make copies available for the staff to review, and, most importantly, to upload sound files to the orchestra website. Orchestra members study these recordings each week in preparation for their next rehearsal.

* The GCYO Association and Executive Director Position GCYO's 2007-2008 season is the very first in which both artistic and operational goals will be facilitated by an overall director. Formerly the President of GCYO's Parent Association, Holly Caprell (see http://www.gcyo.net/HollyCaprell.htm) will become the orchestra's public face and most ardent nurturer as GCYO's Executive Director. Holly's broad range of duties including coordinating the efforts of GCYO's staff and Parent Association, generating funds, and making new pathways to the future. GCYO's Executive Director position is funded by a generous grant from the Graham Foundation (see http://www.grahamfoundation.org/).

Along the way, GCYO has knit together these and other important developments with ever more rigorous musical expectations and professional standards. Now more than ever in its history, Greenville County Youth Orchestra embodies its long-stated mission:

"GCYO's primary goal is to provide the highest level of musical experience for its members. For the aspiring professional musician, it provides the hands-on training essential to begin a musical career. And for the avocational player, it provides an enrichment which can only be found in the rehearsal and performance of fine musical literature in a well-trained ensemble."