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 2024 DETAILS
Rehearsals
Fall Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:15 – 8:30 pm
Season 2024-25 rehearsal dates will
be announced Summer 2024.
Rehearsal Location
Drop Off/ Pick Up
TBA
Plan on prompt drop off and pick up to avoid
congestion.
Concert
Time & Date
TBA
TBA
Retreat
Time & Date
TBA
Retreats typically happen on one Saturday
in the Fall & Winter Quarters.
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!
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 AcademicFestival 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.
Voting Results on the Wang pieces:‘March Overture’ was selected.All the instrument sections had split votes except for two smaller sections.Of the students that voted, 25 selected the ‘March Overture,’ and 14 selected the ‘Scenic Suite’ movements.
Seating auditions for the May concert will take place at our Monday, April 15 rehearsal – not at our Spring Mini-Retreat on Saturday, April 20th. All Seating audition spots are from ‘Finlandia’ by Sibelius.Please play the first part for your instrument and skip the longer multi-measure rest sections in the spots below.
Flute
A to D
E to seven after G
I to L
M to O
Oboe
A to D
F to G
I to L
M to the end
Clarinet
A to D
F to G
I to L
M to the end
French Horn
Beginning to A
F to H
M to the end
Trumpet
Beginning to A
D to two after E
G to eight after G
M to the end
Trombone
Beginning to A
D to two after E
F to G
M to the end
Violin
A to D
Four before G to four after H
L to M
M to six after N
Viola
A to D
Four before G to four after H
M to the end
Cello
A to D
Four before F to six after F
Four before G to six after G
H to four after H
L to M
M to six after N
Double Bass
Beginning to A
Four before F to six after F
Four before G to three after G
M to O
March 19, 2024
Congratulations on a great Winter Concert!!! Our final concert this season is at the Seattle Symphony’s world-renowned Benaroya Hall – on Saturday, May 11th!
Prior to the first Spring rehearsal on March 25, please print out all your instrument parts from all three PDF files. For example, Violins should print the entire ‘Violin’ file for each piece which includes Violin 1 and Violin 2. Trombones should print Part 1, 2, and 3, etc.
For Wang’s Scenic Suite, please print the parts for movement III and IV only.
The link to the parts will be posted on our webpage, and an email will be sent out on March 21 from our BYSO office to families with directions and password.
Seating auditions for the May concert will take place at our Monday, April 15 rehearsal – not at our Spring Mini-Retreat on Saturday, April 20th. Seating audition spots will be posted on the BYSO Philharmonia webpage the week after our first rehearsal.
The pieces for our May concert will include Sibelius’ Finlandia (using the original, professional version) and a piece by BYSO composition contest winner Jason Wang from 2009/2010 (contest happened at that time). During our rehearsal cycle, Philharmonia musicians will choose which of Wang’s two pieces to perform at Benaroya. Mr. Kempisty will share more details about this at rehearsal.
See you soon!
Video links to one of our May 2024 Concert pieces
Two reference recordings for Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia, Op. 26. The first is a great performance by the Youth Symphony of Galicia (Spain). The second is by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea) with Finnish conductor Osmo Antero Vänskä.
Video links to our March 2024 Concert pieces
Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Slavonic March, Op. 31 (also called March Slav or Marche Slave), performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (New Zealand). Conducted by Xian Zhang, Chinese-American conductor and music director of the New Jersey Symphony.
American composer Ted Ricketts arranged an orchestral medley of four famous Louis Armstrong classics which are frequently heard today. The tribute medley includes the four pieces in the videos below.
When The Saints Go Marching In:
St. Louis Blues:
What A Wonderful World:
Hello Dolly:
Video links to our November 2023 Concert pieces
Aaron Copland’s ‘Saturday Night Waltz’ from his ballet suite ‘Rodeo’ performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (1968). Aaron Copland, conductor. This video is the entire suite. Go to 11:39 for the Waltz.
Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe-Down’ from his ballet suite ‘Rodeo’ performed by the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (2018). Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor.
John Williams’ ‘The Olympic Spirit’ performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra with the composer conducting. He wrote this for the 1988 television broadcast of the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. This is a score reduction, so you will easily see which instruments are playing the same rhythmic parts. One change he made after the initial publication was in the final three measures. In those last three measures of this video, you will see the initial written score but you will hear the change. We will adjust our performance to match this later change.
Welcome to Philharmonia’s 2023-24 Season!
The music for our first concert will be posted on our website and linked above in the weeks ahead. Please check for email notifications so that you can print out your music before our first rehearsal on Monday, September 25th.
I am in the process of selecting repertoire for this season, and I would like to have the input of our Philharmonia musicians. If you have a piece or composer in mind, please email me the details at philharmonia@byso.org, and I will consider it.
