Paul Smith, Director & Conductor
Audition Here View Gallery Upcoming Performances

Pizzicato Players, a new and expanded educational offering of the PYO Music Institute, strives to create a home to develop critical and large ensemble skills and ensemble experience with conductors and acoustically favorable settings to highlight and nurture plucked instruments which are increasingly used in contemporary settings and throughout conservatories worldwide.

The 2024-2025 Season will feature two performances at the Temple Performing Arts Center and opportunity to participate in the 2025 PYO Music Institute Showcase at The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus.

Plucked strings hold a constant and unique presence in the classical canon; their prevalence extends from the Renaissance and Baroque settings, operatic featurettes, and auxiliary orchestration settings in Romantic and Modern Symphonic works.

Pizzicato Players seeks to raise the profile and pathways for these instruments locally in ages 6 through 18 years of age, in advanced and intermediate settings.

Instruments Considered for Audition Include:

  • Classical/Acoustic Guitars
  • Acoustic Basses
  • Harp, “Folk” Harp
  • Mandolin
  • Ukulele
  • Banjo
  • Baroque Plucked strings – Lute, Theorbo

All students must be comfortable and proficient in tuning their instruments by themselves.

Rehearsals for Pizzicato Players will be on Wednesdays every other week from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Center City Philadelphia at St. Patrick Church Hall, 240 S. 20th Street.

Repertoire for the 2022-2023 Season:

  • Belafonte, Fleetwood Mac, and Vivaldi

Audition Requirements

  • All players are required to play their choice of a solo or two contrasting etudes. In addition, each player must demonstrate scales, major and minor chord shapes, and sight-reading fundamentals.
  • Students must have their own instrument(s).
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