Philharmonia

Fall Concert call times are available! Scroll to see details below.
Fall Quarter music will be posted on our website in PDF format by mid-September. All enrolled students will receive instructions via email on how to access and print these PDFs in September. In the meantime, email admin@byso.org with any questions.
Click here for Conductor’s Messages

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 2026 DETAILS

Rehearsals	Fall Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:15 – 8:30 pm	9/28, 10/5, 10/12, 10/19, 10/26, 11/2, 11/9, 11/16


Rehearsal Location	Drop Off/ Pick Up
Bellevue Children’s Academy	Plan on prompt drop off and pick up to avoid
(South Campus)	congestion. *Parents/guardians are not able
14640 NE 24th St	to wait inside this venue during rehearsal.
Bellevue, WA 98007

Retreat Location	Time & Date
Odle Middle School	Saturday, October 3
502 143rd Ave NE	9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Bellevue, WA 98007

Concert	Time & Date
Meydenbauer Theatre	Sunday, November 22 @ 2:30 pm
11100 NE 6th St	Call times and more are below.
Bellevue, WA 98004

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.

This also may apply to students who miss more than 30 minutes of the final Monday night rehearsal (by arriving late or leaving early).

CONCERT DETAILS | Sunday, November 22 @ 2:30 pm

CALL TIME | 12:45 pm
All musicians should arrive promptly 12:45 pm.

DRESS REHEARSAL | 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
This is when students rehearse on stage for a soundcheck. If students arrive at this time, they are late.

DROP OFF
Musicians can be dropped off via the Meydenbauer Parking Garage. The first 30 minutes are free.

PARKING
Parking is available in the Meydenbauer Parking Garage. Parking cannot be reserved ahead of time.

CONCERT ATTIRE
Be sure to check your ensemble’s concert attire requirements. Students must arrive wearing their concert clothing. They will not have a place to change later.

VOLUNTEERS – WE NEED YOU!
Volunteers will be a vital part of a successful day at Meydenbauer for all of our students. We need volunteers to help the check in process and supporting ensembles during their dress rehearsals. Volunteers have early access to reserve their seats in the hall. Click here to sign up!

CONCERT TICKETS
Families of enrolled BYSO students get priority access to concert tickets from October 15 – November 4. On November 5, tickets will be open to the general public on our website, here.

STAY THE WHOLE CONCERT
Performing students are expected to stay from their call time to the end of the concert. Listening to other musicians perform is an important part of each student’s music education, and it’s also important to support fellow BYSO musicians in this way. Students who must leave early due to unavoidable schedule conflicts must get permission from their conductor and the BYSO office prior to the concert.

About

Philharmonia is an advanced orchestra in the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra organization. The typical Philharmonia student has several years of private instruction, substantial ensemble experience, and a high level of proficiency on their instrument.

Philharmonia prepares advanced musicians for potential entry into Youth Symphony through the study and performance of challenging full orchestra repertoire. Past performances have included works by contemporary composers such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Soon Hee Newbold, and John Williams, as well as movements from professional-level symphonies and suites, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, Holst’s The Planets, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

Recent Philharmonia Performances

Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra's Philharmonia

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

Seating Audition spots

Our Fall Retreat is Saturday, October 3 from 9am to 12pm at Odle Middle School (see location details at the top of this page). Seating Auditions occur at retreat, and everyone will prepare the first part of their instrument (if more than one). Be sure to listen to the video recordings below on this page to help. These specific video performances were selected because they are very close to how we will be performing these pieces.

Flute

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 13 with repeats
34 (2nd ending) to 46 (play 1st ending)
50 to 66
155 to 167

Oboe

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 13 with repeats
34 (2nd ending) to 46 (play 1st ending)
152 to 167

Clarinet

Massenet

Mvmt 1: Letter I to end (letter ‘i’)

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 16 (play 1st ending) with repeats
34 (2nd ending) to 46 (play 1st ending)
155 to 168

Bassoon

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 9 with repeats
39 to 46 (play 1st ending)
73 to 82
213 to 220

French Horn

Massenet (play 1st part, in Eb)

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 9 with repeats
43 with repeat (stop after 2nd ending)
164 to 176

Trumpet

Massenet (play 1st part, Piston)

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 5 with repeat
39 to 46 (play 1st ending)
200 to 210
220 to 228

Trombone/Euphonium

Massenet (play 1st part, Tenor Clef)

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 5 with repeat
39 to 46 (1st ending)
114 to 127

Tuba

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 5 with repeat
39 to 46 (play 1st ending)
221 to 230

Violin

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 13 with repeats
39 with repeat (stop after 2nd ending)
202 to 210

Viola

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 13 with repeats
39 with repeat (stop after 2nd ending)
136 to 143 (play 1st ending)

Cello

Massenet

Mvmt 1: Letter I to end (letter ‘i’)

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 9 with repeats
39 to 46 (play 1st ending)
73 to 82

Double Bass

Massenet

Mvmt 1: J to end
Mvmt 4: 4 measures before M to 5 measures after M

Lloyd Webber

Beginning to 9 with repeats
39 to 46 (play 1st ending)
73 to 82

Fall Quarter Repertoire

If you haven’t read the “Welcome to a new season of Philharmonia” section below be sure to read it for important details.

Thank you for your repertoire requests! Your requests included Phantom of the Opera (premiered exactly 40 years ago!), several requests for pieces by French composers (Berlioz, Bizet, Massenet, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, etc.), along with other ideas that I’ll consider for the other concerts this season. For our Fall Quarter, I selected Phantom of the Opera and a suite by Massenet – both great pieces to perform! Our Fall repertoire:

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Selections from “The Phantom of the Opera”
Jules Massenet: Suite No. 6 “Scènes de féerie”

This is a video of the same arrangement we are playing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. Performed by the Los Angeles Dream Orchestra with conductor Daniel Suk.

Phantom of the Opera, arr. Calvin Custer

This is a video of Jules Massenet’s Suite No. 6 “Scènes de féerie” which shows the full conductor score along with the performance. Performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with conductor Jean-Yves Ossonce.

Massenet: Suite No. 6 "Scènes de féerie" (with Score)

Welcome to a new season of Philharmonia!

Our Fall Quarter starts on Monday, September 28th, and our Fall Retreat is Saturday, October 3 from 9am to 12pm (see location details for rehearsals and retreat at the top of this page).

One important detail about our Fall Retreat (10/3): 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 9 (also in the morning).
Our Spring Concert seating auditions will take place during one of our regular Monday night rehearsals likely on Monday, March 29 (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, most 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 10/3 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 which includes four requested by our musicians. Philharmonia typically performs the professional-level, original work as written by the composer.

Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide

Gustav Holst’s The Planets (Mars and Jupiter)

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (Highlights from the musical, arranged by Jerry Brubaker)

Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Selections from Ravel’s version)

Soon Hee Newbold’s The Iliad

Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, Finale (Fourth Movement)