On Monday evenings throughout much of the year, young musicians from across the Inland Northwest gather by the dozens. They come together collectively as the Spokane Youth Symphony, ostensibly to rehearse the pieces for their next public concert, four of which traditionally are scheduled annually; but the experience is also meant to be much richer than performance prep.
"The real goal is making the music itself, the experience of being in an orchestra and doing as well as you can. It's about the participation and the joy in that," says Jennifer O'Bannan, the organization's executive director.
The history of the Spokane Youth Symphony extends almost as far back as the Spokane Symphony proper. It was launched in 1949, four years after the "adult" symphony (or philharmonic, as it was known at the time), and both have Harold Paul Whelan to thank for their founding. Then, as now, the SYS fielded young musicians from across the area to augment the lack of orchestral extracurricular opportunities in local schools.
"It tends to be the musical achievers — students who feel like the school program is good but not enough, or in some cases, kids who are homeschooled or attend private schools and don't have another outlet," she says. "We really do encourage our kids to play in their school programs and not see [the SYS] as something to do instead."
Despite the organization's long history, there's still the occasional public misconception. The SYS is not a minor-league feeder for the Spokane Symphony, even if several of its young musicians have gone on to professional careers there over the past seven decades.
Nor, as its umbrella name might suggest, is the SYS a single orchestra. Today's SYS actually consists of four separate groups of young musicians of increasing skill levels: the Strings, the Sinfonietta, the Philharmonic and, finally, the Symphony Orchestra. Each group is led by a different conductor. The first two are strings only, whereas the latter two have dedicated spots for percussionists, brass and woodwinds.
"We really have an entry-level group for kids, although it's not 'entry' in the sense that we teach them," O'Bannan says. "They do need to have been playing for a couple years already. And then they move up by audition through the program if they desire. Some kids might not start until they're in high school, and some start when they're younger and move up over the years."
Recent Monday evenings have seen the SYS rehearsing for its joint "Rejoice in Artistry" concert on March 20. Artistic Director Philip Baldwin, who has a lengthy professional music résumé outside of his eight years with the SYS, has been busy conducting the Symphony Orchestra in the first movement of Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G and Lalo's Cello Concerto in E.
Each piece features a soloist selected from the orchestra's own ranks through a competitive audition process. Cellist Janee Ko, a high school junior who joined the SYS Strings in sixth grade, is leading the Lalo. High school freshman Daniel Thackston, in his first year with the Symphony Orchestra, will perform the Haydn. And the Mozart is in the hands of eighth-grader Jessie Morozov, who started with the Strings at age 7 and now studies violin under Spokane Symphony Concertmaster Mateusz Wolski.
For Morozov, the SYS has been a valuable creative outlet and learning environment beyond her private lessons.
"First of all, there's the advantage of hearing other people's opinions and ways of looking at things. And, secondly, you also gain the experience of playing with other people — learning how to listen to each other and communicate effectively," she says.
"This goes for life in general, but if you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. That was something that I had to learn. In reality, the people listening to you in the concert are there to support their kids and to hear music."
Although the organization's merit-based framework still enables exceptionally young, talented virtuosos like Morozov to step into the spotlight, there's very little institutional pressure to advance. Decisions like that are largely left up to the individual musicians, and those who do compete for soloist spots are typically putting in tens of hours of private practice per week.
"Mostly motivation is the biggest thing," O'Bannan says. "Although there's competition in the sense of auditions and stuff, we've tried to avoid it being a cutthroat type of atmosphere. If the value is only in getting to the first chair or the solo, that's only going to take you so far."
"We try to put people in the group that matches their talent level and their interest level," Baldwin adds. "We hope that students enter in at the Strings level and continue all the way through to the Symphony Orchestra level so that they're getting anywhere between six and seven years of experience. But some students really are comfortable staying in the younger orchestras."
At a concert like "Rejoice in Artistry," he says, the fruits of that approach are on full display.
"One of the great joys of watching the kids at the Spokane Youth Symphony perform is that you get to see the whole progression. You can see this progression of music-making right in front of your eyes. And at every single level, kids are performing at a really high level for their age and for their training." ♦
Rejoice in Artistry • Sun, March 20 at 4 pm • $14-$18 •
Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • spokaneyouthsymphony.org • 624-1200
[Correction: The date of the event was wrong in the print edition of the Inlander. Sunday, March 20, is the correct date]
