Sing or play music? Here is your chance to join the VYOA!

The Vermont Youth Orchestra Association will hold annual auditions for our orchestras and choruses next month at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester.

Orchestral Auditions: May 13 - 23. Orchestral auditions include playing a prepared solo (without accompaniment), a prepared scale of your choice and sight-reading a selection of music presented at the time of the audition.

Choral Auditions: May 27 - June 1. Choral auditions include performing an a capella song of your choice, participating in a brief pitch-matching exercise and sight reading a selection of music presented at the time of the audition.

Auditions are approximately ten minutes long. Qualified students will be offered placement in the appropriate VYOA group, based on their skill and experience as demonstrated in the audition. Need-based financial aid for tuition is available to all students. We are committed to making it possible for all students to participate!

All auditions are by appointment only. Please call 802-655-5030 to schedule an audition. For additional information, visit www.vyo.org.

Register For Music Day Camp

The VYOA is currently accepting applications for Music Day Camp, held Monday-Friday, June 23 through 27, 2008. Camp sessions are held daily from 8:45 am - 4:00 pm at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College.

Music Day Camp offers young musicians an opportunity to develop musical skills while making music in both large and small ensembles. Daily classes and individual instruction, expanded levels of Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble, and a variety of great electives make Music Day Camp a great choice for summer music fun!

For more information and a downloadable registration form, please refer to our website. For additional information, contact the VYOA at 802-655-5030.

Music Day Camp is generously sponsored by

School Tours

The VYOA orchestras and the VYO Choruses "hit the road" during the month of April as a part of the annual VYOA school tours. School tours provide additional performance and teaching opportunities for VYOA musicians, enabling them to share their love of music with a younger audience.

The VYO Chorus & Concert Chorale led by conductor Jeffrey Buettner, visited Hunt Middle School & Williston Central School. This was the first school tour for the VYO Choruses.

Vermont Youth Strings, led by conductor David Gusakov, performed in Franklin County at BFA Fairfax Elementary School & Fletcher Elementary School.

Vermont Youth Philharmonia, led by conductor Anne Decker, visited JFK Elementary School in Winooski & Christ the King Elementary School in Burlington.

Vermont Youth Sinfonia, led by conductor Troy Peters, played for students at Ferrisburg Central School & the Shelburne Community School.

The VYOA school tours are sponsored by a grant from

The Vermont Youth Orchestra Association heralds spring with a flurry of concerts at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College:

Friday, April 11 at 8:00 pm

VYO Chorus & Concert Chorale Spring Concert - Final concert of the season!
Jeffrey Buettner, conductor | Shyla Nelson, soprano
VYO Chamber Ensemble
New works and choral masterpieces, featuring selections by Antonio Vivaldi, Franz Joseph Haydn, Rollo Dilworth and Jim Papoulis.
Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College
Tickets: $10 Adults/Seniors & $5 Students
To purchase tickets, please call 802-86-Flynn or www.flynntix.org

Sponsored by

Saturday, April 12 at 11:00 am

Presto Spring Concert
Asiat "Ace" Ali, conductor
Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College
Free and open to the public.

Saturday, April 12 at 3:00 pm

Vermont Youth Strings Spring Concert
David Gusakov, conductor | Joseph Senecal, double bass
Music by Handel, Vivaldi, Mouret and Chace
Conductor Troy Peters and members of the Vermont Youth Orchestra will present the Double Bass Concerto No. 2 by Giovanni Bottesini, featuring VYO soloist Joseph Senecal
Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College
Tickets: $5 Adults/Seniors & $2 Students. Tickets available only at the door.

Saturday, April 12 at 7:00 pm

Vermont Youth Sinfonia Spring Concert
Troy Peters, conductor
Leah Kohn & Steve Tatum, bassoons
Music by Strauss Sr., J.S. Bach and Offenbach. VYO Soloists Leah Kohn & Steve Tatum present the Concerto in F major for Two Bassoons by J.B. Vanhal.
Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College
Tickets: $5 Adults/Seniors & $2 Students. Tickets available only at the door.

Sunday, April 13 at 7:00 pm

Vermont Youth Philharmonia Spring Concert
Anne Decker, conductor | Elisabeth LeBlanc, clarinet
St. Albans clarinetist Elisabeth LeBlanc performs Mozart’s Concerto in A major. The orchestra will also present works by Holst and John Williams, and Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute.
Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College
Tickets: $5 Adults/Seniors & $2 Students. Tickets available only at the door.

Sunday, April 27 at 7:00 pm

Hermance Prize Recital
A recital of works presented by VYO seniors who performed as soloists during the 07-08 concert season. A $1,000 scholarship is awarded to the student giving the best performance of the evening.
Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College
Tickets: $5 Adults/Seniors & $2 Students. Tickets available only at the door.

VYO Spring Concert: Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson
& Side-by-Side with Vermont Symphony Orchestra

The Vermont Youth Orchestra, led by Music Director and Conductor Troy Peters, presents their Spring Concert, "Shostakovich Side-by-Side", on Sunday, May 4 at 3:00 pm at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts.

The VYO will present the world premiere of "Fanfare:Heat" written by Northfield composer Dennis Bathory-Kitsz. Violinist Jaime Laredo and his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson, will present the Brahms Double Concerto in A minor for Violin, Cello and Orchestra. For the concert finale, over one hundred and twenty members of the Vermont Youth Orchestra and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra will join forces under the baton of Jaime Laredo to perform the powerful Symphony No. 5 in D minor by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Tickets are available at the Flynn Center Box Office:
Adults /Seniors - $15, $12, $10; Students - $12, $10, $6
To purchase tickets, call 802-86-FLYNN or www.flynntix.org.

Concert sponsors:

VYO Season sponsor:

Media Support provided by

Save the Date! National Youth Orchestra of Canada to Perform in Burlington

Mark your calendars now: on the evening of Friday, August 1st, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (NYOC) will perform a benefit concert for the VYOA at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. The program will include Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and Mahler's Symphony No. 1. Tickets will go on sale next month, so watch for more information soon!

Founded in 1960, the NYOC was established with the objective of preparing young Canadian musicians for careers as professional orchestral players. Its success has been proven by the fact that approximately one-third of Canada's professional orchestral musicians are alumni of the NYOC. Each year, auditions are held for musicians 12-28 years old, and 100 are accepted into the orchestra. For more information about the orchestra, visit www.nyoc.org.

VYOA Annual Meeting Announced

The VYOA Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 10 at 7:00 pm at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College. Join us as we celebrate the past year’s accomplishments, award the Eliot & Ann Weathers scholarship to a graduating senior, and discuss plans for the upcoming season.

Invest in the VYOA - Annual Fund Update

Our Annual Fund goal this year is $210,000. We are past the halfway mark in gifts raised, but we have a long way to go between now and June 30 when our fiscal year ends. Thanks to the support of hundreds of individuals, businesses and foundations, we have been able to launch our new choral program and expand the Endangered Instruments Program (providing free private lessons to students on bass, horn, and bassoon). In order to maintain these exciting initiatives and keep pace with the high artistic goals set for all of our programs, we need to attract much more funding in the coming weeks.

Would you please consider making a gift to the VYOA? To give online, just visit www.vyo.org and click on the "Support VYOA Now" button on the bottom right side of the page. If you prefer to write a check, please make it payable to "VYOA" and mail it to 223 Ethan Allen Ave, Colchester 05446. For gifts of stock, contact Caroline Whiddon at 802-655-5030 ext 103.

Your gift makes it possible for the VYOA to offer financial aid, collaborate with world-class visiting artists and teachers, maintain our wonderful facilities at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael's College, and so much more! Thank you in advance for your generous support.

VYOA photos: Jordan Silverman