Philharmonia

Rehearsals will be held on Monday evenings from 6:15 – 8:30 pm. Musicians are expected to arrive and be prepared to rehearse 15 minutes prior to start time.

FALL QUARTER 2025 DETAILS

IMPORTANT VENUE UPDATE

Philharmonia’s normal rehearsal location (BCA) recently experienced a small electrical fire that triggered the sprinkler system, resulting in extensive water damage in some areas. They are undergoing emergency repairs that have made our rehearsal spaces there unusable for the next few weeks. So, to make sure Philharmonia does not lose any rehearsal time this quarter, the first few rehearsals will be at different venues. The schedule is as follows:

  • September 22
    • Location: Overlake Christian Church (9900 Willows Rd NE, Redmond, WA 98052)
    • Time: 6:15 pm to 8:30 pm
  • September 29, October 6, and October 13
    • Location: Odle Middle School (502 143rd Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98007)
    • Time: 6:15 pm to 8:30 pm
  • October 20 through November 17
    • Location: Bellevue Children’s Academy, South Campus (14640 NE 24th St, Bellevue, WA 98007)*
    • Time: 6:15 pm to 8:30 pm
*This is tentative, based on the completion of the repairs at BCA.
BYSO staff is closely monitoring this situation. If repairs are completed sooner at BCA than anticipated, we will move Philharmonia back to BCA. Please keep an eye on your email inboxes and the Philharmonia Ensemble page for updates throughout the quarter.

 

Rehearsals Fall Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:15 – 8:30 pm 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/3, 11/17
There is no rehearsal on 11/10 (Veteran’s Day).
Rehearsal Location Drop Off/ Pick Up
Multiple venues. See above. Plan on prompt drop off and pick up to avoid
congestion.
Retreat Location Time & Date
Odle Middle School Saturday, September 27
502 143rd Ave NE 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Bellevue, WA 98007
Concert Time & Date
Benaroya Hall Sunday, November 23 @ 3:00 pm
200 University St. ALL DAY. Exact details will be posted here
Seattle, WA 98101 at a later date.

Student Checklist

  • Bring a pencil
  • Bring a music stand
  • Print your sheet music prior to first rehearsal (using link at top of this page) and bring with you to rehearsal
  • Arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of rehearsal to ensure you are in your chair and ready to play at the start of rehearsal
  • Have fun!

ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR LAST REHEARSAL BEFORE CONCERT

In order to participate in the concert, Philharmonia students who miss the final Monday night rehearsal before a concert will be required to submit a video recording of them performing the excerpts used for seating auditions posted in the Conductor’s Messages on the Philharmonia page (below).  For those excerpts, students will play their assigned part for the concert (Clarinet 2 plays that part, Trombone 2 plays that part, Violin 2 plays that part, etc.).  Students can send a link to accessible platforms like YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.  Please make sure you have adjusted the sharing settings appropriately and make sure you are clearly visible in the video recording.  Students must submit this no later than 11:59 PM Wednesday.  Mr. Kempisty will review the submission and notify the student and parent of the result by end of day on Thursday.

About

Philharmonia is an advanced orchestra in the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra organization. The typical Philharmonia student has had several years of private instruction and substantial ensemble experience and is highly skilled on his or her instrument.

Philharmonia prepares high-level musicians for possible entry into Youth Symphony with challenging full orchestra pieces. Past works performed include Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Slavonic March in Bb Minor, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 35.

Recent Philharmonia Performances

Conductor: Joseph Kempisty

Joseph Kempisty holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from The Ohio State University and a Master of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies degree from the University of Washington. He has taught elementary, middle, and high school orchestras in the Midwest as well as in the Bellevue School District, where he was also a school administrator for fourteen years. Learn more.

Contact Joseph Kempisty at philharmonia@byso.org

Messages from the Conductor

Welcome to a new season of Philharmonia!

Our Fall Quarter starts on Monday, September 22nd, and our Fall Retreat is Saturday, September 27 from 9am to 12pm (see location details for rehearsals and retreat at the top of this page).

One important detail about our Fall Retreat (9/27):  This is where we will have Seating Auditions for each section.  If you have a conflict or are unable to attend our Fall Retreat, you will not be able to do your audition – and that is ok.  You will be seated at the end of your section for this Fall Concert, but we have seating auditions at the start of each rehearsal cycle.

  • The Winter Concert seating auditions will take place at our Winter Retreat on Saturday, January 10 (also in the morning).
  • Our Spring Concert seating auditions will take place during one of our regular Monday night rehearsals likely on Monday, April 13 (this will be confirmed later).

I will post the seating audition spots for all instruments on this page the week of our first rehearsal.  Everyone will prepare the first part of their instrument (if more than one).  Information will be shared via email from our BYSO office with a link to your parts the week before our first rehearsal.

For those instruments that have multiple parts (Woodwinds, Brass, Violin):  For our first rehearsal, there are no part assignments.  We will alternate parts throughout that rehearsal, so be sure to print all your parts once they are posted (sometimes you will play 1st part, sometimes 2nd part, etc.).  Part assignments will be made after our 9/27 Fall Retreat based on the seating auditions.

One request:  Each season, I like to include pieces that are suggested by our Philharmonia musicians.  If you have a piece and/or composer in mind that you would like me to consider, please email that to me at philharmonia@byso.org

Looking forward to a great season!

Mr. Kempisty, Philharmonia Conductor

As an example for our new Philharmonia musicians and families, below are pieces we performed last season.  Philharmonia typically performs the professional-level, original work as written by the composer which was the case for all of these except the Wicked musical highlights.

George Bizet’s Carmen Suite No. 1

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, Allegro con fuoco (Fourth Movement)

Soon Hee Newbold’s Alpha and Omega

Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked (Highlights from the musical, arranged by Ted Ricketts)

Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Finale (Fourth Movement)

Giuseppe Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino Overture

 

 

 

 

Sponsors & Partners