Premiere Orchestra

  • Spring Quarter music will be available via PDF download by Thursday, March 21. Instructions on how to download music will be sent via email to all enrolled BYSO students.
  • Click here for Conductor’s Messages

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.

SPRING QUARTER 2024 DETAILS

Rehearsals Spring Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:30 – 8:30 pm Rehearsals begin on Monday, March 25
No Rehearsal on Monday, April 8 (Spring Break)
Rehearsal Location Drop Off/ Pick Up
Overlake Christian Church Please plan on prompt drop off and pick up to
9900 Willows Rd NE avoid congestion. Note: entrance to building
Redmond, WA 98052 is past a very long parking lot.
Saturday Rehearsal Saturday Rehearsal Location
Saturday, April 20 Odle Middle School
12:00pm – 2:00pm 502 143 Ave NE
Bellevue, WA 98007
Spring Concert Time & Date
Benaroya Concert Hall Saturday, May 11 @ 3:00pm
200 University St. Arrive by: 10:30am
Seattle, WA 98101 BYSO will be providing lunch
Students will not be permitted to leave Benaroya until
after the concert is complete.

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!

BENAROYA CONCERT DETAILS FOR SATURDAY, MAY 11 AT 3:00 PM

CALL TIME | 10:30 am
All musicians should arrive promptly 10:30 am. Please account for possible traffic delays.

DROP OFF
All musicians should be dropped off in the Benaroya Hall parking garage on 2nd Avenue near Union Street. DO NOT drop off musicians on the street, as this will cause severe traffic. The parking garage has free parking for 30 minutes. Volunteers will direct students towards the Artist Entrance inside the parking garage. Only BYSO musicians, staff, and volunteers are allowed backstage.

CHECK IN
All students will check in with BYSO Staff upon arrival at the Artist’s Entrance, accessed through the parking garage.

PICK UP
Students will not be permitted to leave Benaroya until the concert is complete. Pick up will be in the Grand Lobby.

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.

PREPARE FOR A LONG DAY
Students will stay in Benaroya’s back stage facility the entire time from check in to end of concert. Be sure to send your student with a water bottle, snack, and a book (or similar activity) for breaks between rehearsals and concert.

MUSICIAN LUNCH AT BENAROYA
Students will stay in Benaroya’s back stage facility the entire time from check in to end of concert. BYSO will be providing lunch for musicians. Students may bring their own lunch but there will be no refrigerator available for food storage.

VOLUNTEERS – WE NEED YOU!
Volunteers will be a vital part of a successful day at Benaroya for all of our students. We need volunteers to help the check in process and supporting ensembles during their dress rehearsals.  You will be able to get to know the students, see their dress rehearsal process, see the incredible Benaroya Hall from a musician’s perspective, and get a free concert ticket! Click here to sign up now! 

CONCERT TICKETS
Concert tickets are available on Benaroya’s website here: Benaroya Concert Tickets. Reminder: BYSO musicians performing in the concert do not need their own ticket.


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

Spring Quarter 2024

Welcome to Spring Quarter 2024!

MUSIC PROGRAM-

This spring we will be working on 3 different pieces from three different time periods, regions, and styles.

Our first piece will be Handel’s “March from Scipio” from an opera composed in 1726.

The second piece is the Scherzo, Allegro Giocoso, from the fourth symphony composed by Johannes Brahms in 1884 and premiered in 1885. This was the final symphony that Brahms composed before his death in 1897.

We will end our program and season with a crowd favorite, Blue Tango by Leroy Anderson. Blue Tango was composed in 1951 and published the following year. At the time of this composition, Anderson was employed as a composer for the Boston Pops Orchestra. The Tango is a partner dance that originated in Argentina.

Recordings for Reference- These are all very popular pieces and you can find hundreds of good recordings of all of them. Here are a few recordings that I have found to get you started.

March from Scipio

Brahms Symphony No. 4- Allegro Giocoso

Blue Tango

Sponsors & Partners