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View the entire season schedule
View the 2017/18 season brochure
Now in its 78th season, The PYO Music Institute (PYO) has a full schedule of performances for its six program divisions. One of the oldest and most highly regarded youth orchestra organizations in America, PYO is dedicated to excellence, transformative education, and access for student instrumentalists. The talented musicians in each ensemble gain exceptional musical training with many opportunities to perform that showcase the musicians.
Louis Scaglione, President and Music Director, continues to be impressed by the quality of student musicians who are members of PYO as well as their dedication to the music. He said, “It gives me great pride to work with our students each year whose motivation to excel is apparent at every level. Being dedicated to music performance demonstrates many intrinsic skills – their ability to take direction and to work well with peers, their passion to learn and grow as musicians and as good citizens. I am honored to be able to work with such outstanding leaders who are the program directors of PYO, some of the finest musicians and educators in America, which is a privilege for our students. Our students thrive under the faculty’s guidance, which is apparent at any of our performances.”
Training tomorrow’s leaders, the student population of PYO reaches across the tri-state area. Students go on to excel in many diverse fields, as well as develop performance careers with major orchestras, with many members of the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra being PYO alumni.
From November until June, audiences enjoy outstanding classical concerts that offer the talented young musicians invaluable opportunities to perform in professional venues. There is a full schedule of performances throughout the year, which are listed below. The season opens with the PYO Music Institute conducted by Scaglione in a major concert that showcases this year’s great student talent.
PYO is comprised of six independent program ensembles designed to meet specific needs and experience levels of students selected through a competitive audition process. The anchor group is the PYO Music Institute (PYO), conducted by President and Music Director Louis Scaglione, featuring 120 gifted instrumentalists who range in age from 14-21. Young musicians 12-18 years old are featured in PYO’s companion ensemble, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, which is led by Director and Conductor Maestra Rosalind Erwin, who is Music Director and Conductor of Drexel University Orchestra. Philadelphia Young Musicians Orchestra (PYMO), directed by Maestro Kenneth Bean, is a beginning to intermediate-level full symphonic orchestra that provides most students with their first introduction to large orchestral playing featuring students age 10-17 years old. Bravo Brass, directed by Curtis Institute Dean of Faculty and Students, Paul Bryan, is an all brass ensemble for promising middle and high-school instrumentalists. PRYSM (Philadelphia Region Youth String Music) and PRYSM Young Artists ensembles provide string large ensemble and sectional master class instruction for beginning and intermediate musicians ages 6-14. The director and conductor of PRYSM is Gloria DePasquale, cellist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and conductor of PRYSM Young Artists is Andrea Weber. Tune Up Philly (TUP) is PYO’s engagement program, directed by Paul Smith, that focuses on creating and inspiring true community by providing children in under-resourced communities with invaluable opportunities to learn and perform a differentiated orchestral music curriculum. For more information, please visit www.pyos.org.
