This February marked the return of one of the Youth Orchestra Program’s favorite annual events: the Side-by-Side concert with the Richmond Symphony and the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra (RSYO), which last occurred in full in February 2020.
Side-by-side concerts are a staple of youth orchestras across the country. In a side-by-side performance, members of a youth orchestra come together with a professional orchestra to present a full program of standard orchestral repertoire. These performances are not only meaningful to the participating students, but also a core memory for now-professional musicians, says Rebecca Benjamin, Principal Viola of the Richmond Symphony.
Benjamin grew up as a member of the Fort Wayne Youth Symphony Orchestra, located in Indiana. She participated in her first side-by-side performance with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic at the age of ten.
“I just thought those musicians were the best thing ever. They were so, so good. And so when I got to play with them … I was so nervous because I looked up to them so much,” Benjamin said. “I remember my legs shaking a little bit, but I remember how [the musicians] were just so encouraging. … [I remember] really how inspiring it was to sit next to those professionals and hoping that one day I could be one of them.”
The 2025–26 season officially restored this pivotal experience to the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra, the most advanced ensemble within the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program. For nearly all members of RSYO, this was their first time performing next to professional musicians—and it’s an experience they’re excited to continue for seasons to come.
Though the last full Side-by-Side with the Richmond Symphony occurred in February 2020, RSYO and the Richmond Symphony did perform together at the Richmond Symphony’s Big Tent concert in spring 2025, which occurred at Chimborazo Park. RSYO and the Richmond Symphony played together to open the performance before the Richmond Symphony launched into its other repertoire.
Freshman violist Will Rohrs participated in both the Big Tent and Carpenter Theatre Side-by-Sides.
“Being outside and being in front of a bigger crowd was really cool,” Rohrs said about the Big Tent performance with the Richmond Symphony.
Rohrs’ favorite part of the Big Tent performance was learning from both Lee and his Richmond Symphony section members simultaneously. Rohrs, like others, was delighted to learn that the Side-by-Side would make its full return the very next season, and was excited to know he would have further opportunities to learn from the Richmond Symphony musicians.
“It’s really fun to learn next to a professional,” Rohrs said. He enjoyed “getting to learn from them and listen to how they play,” as well as learn from “the decisions they make when it comes to their shifting and their bowings.”
February’s Side-by-Side concert was led by Hae Lee, Jack and Mary Ann Frable Associate Conductor Chair of the Richmond Symphony and conductor of RSYO. The concert, which included 118 musicians, featured works by Bizet, Mascagni, Márquez, Smetana, and Tchaikovsky.
Notably, every piece on the program was one that the Richmond Symphony had already performed that season or would perform in the coming weeks. Portions of RSYO’s repertoire are frequently programmed to match the Richmond Symphony’s, which helps familiarize RSYO students with standard orchestral repertoire and gives them the opportunity to hear their repertoire performed at the professional level.
“To have the opportunity to play a piece with [RSYO] that we’re going to do in a few weeks that they can also come and see is also really cool,” said Kara Poling, Associate Principal Oboe/English Horn.
For Polling and the other Richmond Symphony musicians, the repertoire planned for the Side-by-Side was familiar, and all repertoire they’d played before (whether at the Richmond Symphony or elsewhere). But for the majority of the students in RSYO, this was their first time performing these pieces.
“It was nice to get to hear and watch the students’ reaction to some of the parts they hadn’t heard [live] before,” Poling said. She cited Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture, in which she performed a prominent English horn solo—an instrument currently not played by any student in RSYO. “To watch [the students] get to hear that melody for the first time was really cool.”
During the performance, Poling was seated next to her student Madeline Osterfeld, RSYO oboist and senior. Poling and Osterfeld had been excited to play together since the moment Osterfeld was accepted to RSYO in the fall.
“We’d talked about [the Side-by-Side] for most of the season,” Poling said. “It was just really fun to get to see [Osterfeld] in performance too, you know, and not just from an audience standpoint, but to get to be right beside her while she’s performing. … I knew she was really looking forward to it and I had a lot of fun.”
Osterfeld mirrored her teacher’s excitement, even after the Side-by-Side was complete.
“It was honestly really exciting, knowing that I would be playing with my teacher,” Osterfeld said. “You don’t get many experiences to do that and play with other professionals [as a student]. … It was really great meeting the other soloists I’ve heard before, and other professionals that work with my teacher.”
The orchestra for February’s Side-by-Side was led by Samantha Flottman, RSYO junior and violinist. Flottman had served as concertmaster of RSYO before, but had never led such a large orchestra. With 118 musicians taking the stage, the orchestra for the Side-by-Side was double the size of a regular RSYO concert’s.
“It [was] definitely nerve-wracking,” Flottman said. “When you walk out [to tune the orchestra,] everyone’s looking at you. But when you play, you kind of forget about it. You just play. [The fear] disappears.”
Flottman’s favorite part of the experience was sitting next to Daisuke Yamamoto, Richmond Symphony Concertmaster and Tom & Elizabeth Allen Concertmaster Chair. The pair had worked together as part of many previous collaborations, but February’s Side-by-Side marked the first time that they had played in an orchestra together.
During the concert and rehearsal preceding it, Flottman learned a lot from Yamamoto.
“There are certain things he said … that [were] very insightful,” Flottman said, noting how he’d helped her with minute details of orchestral musicianship, such as matching articulations with your section. “I’m glad that he was able to teach me.”
Yamamoto had just as wonderful a experience sitting next to Flottman.
“[Flottman is] a terrific player,” Yamamoto said. “She’s a very, very fast learner. It’s always a joy to play with her.”
Yamamoto spoke equally as highly about performing with the other members of RSYO.
“Being on stage with all the students, with that many people there, and being inside that sound and that energy was just really fantastic,” Yamamoto said. “The Side-by-Side is a really special experience, not only for the students, but for us as well. … To be with them on stage and be able to share music in that meaningful way is a special experience for everyone.”
Benjamin reiterated how special the Side-by-Side experience was—not just for the students of RSYO, but for the musicians of the Richmond Symphony as well.
“To have this partnership between the Richmond Symphony and RSYO is so crucial and fundamental in terms of inspiring students, whether they have a career in the arts or not,” Benjamin said. “I think that this partnership between the youth orchestras and having this kind of youth education here in Richmond is so important.”
Our monthly Spotlight Series is written by Anna Mitchell, Education & Social Media Coordinator. For inquiries, contact education@richmondsymphony.com.
