youth playing in concert

Philharmonia Messages

March 29, 2024

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.

Looking forward to a great season!

Mr. Kempisty, Philharmonia Conductor

 

Sponsors & Partners