Premiere Orchestra

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

FALL QUARTER 2025 DETAILS

Rehearsals Fall Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:30 – 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
Overlake Christian Church Plan on prompt drop off and pick up to avoid
9900 Willows Rd NE congestion.
Redmond, WA 98052
Retreat Location Time & Date
Location TBD Saturday, October 25
Time TBD
Concert Time & Date
Benaroya Hall Sunday, November 23
200 University St. ALL DAY. Exact details will be posted here
Seattle, WA 98101 at a later date.

Student Checklist

  • Bring a music stand
  • Bring a pencil
  • 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 THE CONCERT

Students absent from rehearsal on the last Monday rehearsal before the concert are required to send Mr. Drassal a link to an unlisted YouTube video demonstrating their performance of their part. Mr. Drassal will email them measure numbers and tempo markings. This video is due no later than Thursday at 3pm. Students will receive the results of this music test by end of day Thursday.
For more details about the absence policy, please see the BYSO Student Handbook.

About

Premiere Orchestra is an intermediate orchestra in the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra organization. The typical Premiere Orchestra student has had some private instruction and school ensemble experience and is working to improve technical proficiency.

Premiere Orchestra introduces young musicians to full orchestral instrumentation (strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion) with repertoire that appropriately challenges their experience level. Past works performed include Brahms’s Hungarian Dances 5 & 6, Vaughan Williams’s Rhosymedre, and Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor.

Recent Premiere Orchestra Performance

Conductor: David Drassal

David Drassal is a Tri-Cities area native, where he attended Southridge High School, playing trumpet in the bands and violin in the orchestra. He began Suzuki violin lessons at age 7 with Melvina Romanelli in Richland, WA and went on to receive a B.M. and M.A. in Music Education from Central Washington University. Mr. Drassal started with BYSO in 2007 as a violin coach for Premiere and has been the director for the Premiere Orchestra since 2013. Mr. Drassal also teaches orchestra at Tyee Middle School in Bellevue. Learn more.

Contact David Drassal at premiere@byso.org

Messages from the Conductor

Great job at your spring concert! Thank you for a fantastic performance season!

We hope you have a great summer break! We are looking forward to seeing you at your next auditions and next season!

Spring Quarter 2025

April 30 Update

You are each doing great work learning your parts and coming to rehearsal prepared. Please add in some metronome practice to your practice routine so you start getting used to how all of the rhythms feel when you play them at the concert speed.

In general- the parts of the music that are technically easier to play rush ahead while the more challenging technical passages drag. Getting used to playing with a metronome at a set speed will help overcome this.

  • Centennial Overture by William Hofeldt
    • Winner of the 1987 National School Orchestra Association composition contest. William Hofeldt is an American composer born and raised in Chicago, IL. He taught middle school orchestra for 15 years in Wisconsin. He currently lives in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and his music is performed by school and youth orchestra ensembles around the country.
    • This piece features each of the sections of our orchestra for extended melodic phrases, each with its own flavor and character.
    • Centennial Overture Recording
  • Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms, Arranged by Roy Phillippe
  • Capriccio Espagnol by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Arranged by Richard Meyer
    • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer who lived from 1844 to 1908. His most well-known and performed works are Scheherazade, Russian Easter Festival Overture, and this one- Capriccio Espagnol.
    • Capriccio Espagnol is a five-movement work based on Spanish folk melodies. It was premiered in 1887 and has been immensely popular since.
    • The five movements of the original are:
  • TEMPO MARKINGS
    • Centennial Overture
      • Beginning- quarter note = 112
      • 44- Piu mosso- quarter note = 116
      • 66- Andante- quarter note = 80
      • 92- Allegro Vivace- quarter note = 120
    • Capriccio Espagnol
      • Beginning- quarter note = 108
      • 57- Piu mosso- quarter note = 144

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