Philharmonia

  • Fall Concert information is now posted. Scroll down for details.
  • Fall music is now available! Visit the Fall 2024 Music page and enter the password. The password for this page was sent out to all enrolled students via the primary email address listed on your account (typically the parent/guardian) on Thursday, September 19. Email admin@byso.org if you need the password resent.
  • 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 2024 DETAILS

Rehearsals Fall Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:15 – 8:30 pm  9/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4, & 11/18.
Rehearsal Location Drop Off/ Pick Up
Bellevue Children’s Academy, South Campus Plan on prompt drop off and pick up to avoid
14640 NE 24th St, Bellevue, WA 98007 congestion.
Retreat  Time & Date
Odle Middle School Saturday, September 28 (9:00 am – 12:00 pm)
502 143rd Ave NE
Bellevue, WA 98007
Concert  Time & Date
Bastyr University Chapel Saturday, November 23 (7:00 pm – 8:30 pm)
14500 Juanita Dr NE Call time and other important information below.
Kenmore, WA 98028

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 REHEARSAL ON 11/18

In order to participate in the concert, Philharmonia students who miss the final Monday night rehearsal before a concert (11/18) will be required to submit a video recording of them performing the seating audition excerpts posted in the Conductor’s Messages on the Philharmonia page (below). 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, November 20.  Mr. Kempisty will review the submission and notify the student and parent of the result by end of day on Thursday, November 21.


CONCERT DETAILS | Saturday, November 23 @ 7:00 pm

CALL TIME | 5:30 pm
Musicians should arrive promptly at 4:45 pm. Philharmonia String Quartet and Woodwind Quintet members should arrive at 4:15 pm.

LOCATION | Bastyr University Chapel
14500 Juanita Dr NE, Kenmore, WA 98028

DROP OFF
Musicians can be dropped off via the Bastyr parking lot nearby. This lot has free parking available.

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 Bastyr 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 now! 

CONCERT TICKETS
Tickets will be available to purchase for families of enrolled students starting the afternoon of Thursday, October 17. Tickets are limited to 2 per enrolled student until October 31. At that time, if any tickets remain available, they will be opened to the public, and families may purchase additional tickets. Reminder: BYSO musicians performing in the concert do not need their own ticket. For more information about concert tickets, including who qualifies for complimentary tickets, please see the Concert Ticket page.


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

Seating Auditions spots for 9/28 Retreat

Congratulations on a great first rehearsal!  A reminder that our Seating Auditions will take place at our Fall Retreat this Saturday, September 28 (9am to 12pm) at Odle Middle School.  The address is at the top of this webpage.

Seating Audition spots for all instruments will be chosen from these sections below in the Tchaikovsky.  For this Saturday, the Metronome marking for the faster sections is Quarter=110 (110 max, and 105 is ok).  Everyone should play Part 1 for their instrument (if there is more than one part!).

  • All Woodwinds and Brass:  Andante (measure 199) to m.207  &  m.249 to the end (H is m.257)
  • All Strings:  measure 38 to B (A is m.30)  &  m.249 to the end (H is m.257)

First Rehearsal on Monday, September 23rd

Welcome to an exciting season in Philharmonia!  I am looking forward to seeing and hearing you all on Monday!

Please note that our rehearsal location has changed from last year:  It is now at Bellevue Children’s Academy (details at the top of our webpage).  There are no stands at this new location, so you need to bring your own music stand.

The link to the music parts is at the top of this webpage.  Check your email for the password that was sent on September 19th.

For our first rehearsal, please print out all your instrument parts from both PDF files in the Philharmonia music section.  For example, Violins should print the entire ‘Violin’ file for both pieces which includes Violin 1 and Violin 2, French Horns should print Part 1, 2, 3, and 4, etc.

  • Note for Trombones:  For the Tchaikovsky, the three parts are in different clefs (Trombone 1 in Alto Clef, Trombone 2 in Tenor Clef, Trombone 3 in Bass Clef).  Print out all three.  For our first rehearsal, you can work on reading the other clefs, or you can just focus on the Trombone 3 Bass Clef part.

We will begin our season with the famous fourth movement from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 (the original, professional version) and with a piece written in 2020 by American composer Soon Hee Newbold called Alpha and Omega.  Reference recordings are below on this webpage.

Seating auditions will take place at our Fall Retreat on Saturday, September 28 (9am to 12pm).  Seating audition spots will be posted on our Philharmonia webpage and shared at our first rehearsal.  We will do seating auditions at the start of each concert cycle – so three times during this season.

Please check our Philharmonia webpage for details on dates, times, and locations for all BYSO rehearsals, concerts, and other events.  In addition, please watch the reference videos of our repertoire which you can find on this webpage throughout the year.

 

Alpha and Omega by American composer Soon Hee Newbold.  This is a computer-generated recording with the score.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge3Ckg_qzfc

Symphony No. 4, Finale (Fourth Movement) by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky.  This is a recording by a Russian symphony with the score.  The Fourth Movement begins at 33:27.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xldfaf4NGw

 

Welcome to Philharmonia’s 2024-25 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 23rd.

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.

Looking forward to a great season!

Mr. Kempisty, Philharmonia Conductor

 

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