Educational Highlights from Our 2024–25 Season

Today’s the day! This evening, members of the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra (RSYO) will be competing in our annual Concerto Competition. Tonight’s winner will perform their concerto movement with RSYO in their final concert of the year.

The scores pictured here represent just a fraction of the students competing this evening. Good luck to all participants and stay tuned for the winner of this year’s competition! 🎶✨

@rvasymphony #YouthOrchestra #ConcertoCompetition #Concerto #Orchestra

“I was very fortunate to play a lot of the standard orchestral pieces as a young musician. We played a lot of serious repertoire during my time in [YOP],” Erin said. One of her favorites? Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8—one of the pieces she played during her very first concert with YOP, which she recently revisited during the Richmond Symphony’s 2024–25 season. “I have played Dvořák 8 many times in my career. It is still one of my favorite pieces and there was something special about discovering it for the first time as a young musician.”

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Our December Spotlight Series features Erin Lano, an alum of the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program who now serves as Associate Principal Horn of the Richmond Symphony. To read Erin’s Spotlight, head to the link in our bio or visit our website. 🎶📯

Our monthly Spotlight Series is written by Anna Mitchell, Education & Social Media Coordinator.

@rvasymphony #RichmondSymphony #FrenchHorn #Horn #YouthOrchestra

Deadline extended due to the recent holiday weekend! Music educators, now is your chance to nominate a student for our 2025–26 Future Music Educators Symposium (FMES), open to high school juniors and seniors located across Virginia. If you teach a student who’s got that spark, visit our website to nominate them on or before the new deadline of Wednesday, December 3, 2025. 🍎🎶✨

Led by Dr. Sandy Goldie, Department Chair and Director of Music Education, VCUarts Music, this 8-week online program is designed to provide a meaningful experience for students who show exceptional promise and passion for a future career in music education. Students are selected through teacher nominations, and accepted students participate in a series of workshops and classes where their own hands-on teaching encounters are supported virtually by invited guest speakers, clinicians, and mentors. This year’s cohort will meet online on Wednesdays from 4:30-6:00pm, January 7 to February 25, 2026.

Each music educator may nominate up to two (2) total students for this course. To be eligible for a nomination, students must currently be a high school junior or senior and must be located in the state of Virginia. The updated deadline to nominate students is Wednesday, December 3, 2025. For more information and to nominate a student, visit our website or the link in our bio.

Photo from the 2022–23 season by James H Loving Photography (@jamesloving).

@rvasymphony @vcuartsmusic @virginiamusiceducators #MusicEducation #VMEA #MusicEd #MusicTeacher #MusicTeachersofInstagram

“If [playing your instrument] is something you truly love, [pursuing a career in performance] is absolutely worth it. It is a challenging path that takes determination and a lot of self-motivation, but I think real progress comes from the consistent effort you put in. … No one can really do the work for you, and that is part of what makes this path so rewarding.”

Our October Spotlight Series featured Youth Orchestra Program alum Emma Cary (‘19), who was recently appointed to the cello section of the North Carolina Symphony. Along the way, she participated in all four YOP string and full orchestra ensembles, earned degrees from @umichsmtd and @shepherd_school, placed in chamber music competitions, and participated in prestigious summer music festivals.

Our monthly Spotlight Series is written by Anna Mitchell, Education & Social Media Coordinator. To read Emma’s Spotlight, head to the link in our bio and visit our website. Don’t forget to subscribe in time for our next newsletter, coming out in mid-December! 🎻

@rvasymphony @ncsymphony #RichmondSymphony #NorthCarolinaSymphony #Cello #Symphony #Orchestra

Nominations are due soon for our 2025–26 Future Music Educators Symposium (FMES), open to high school juniors and seniors located across Virginia! If you teach a student who’s got that spark, head to the link in our bio to nominate them on or before Monday, December 1. 🍎🎶✨
 
Led by Dr. Sandy Goldie, Department Chair and Director of Music Education, VCUarts Music, this 8-week online program is designed to provide a meaningful experience for students who show exceptional promise and passion for a future career in music education. Students are selected through teacher nominations, and accepted students participate in a series of workshops and classes where their own hands-on teaching encounters are supported virtually by invited guest speakers, clinicians, and mentors. This year’s cohort will meet online on Wednesdays from 4:30-6:00pm, January 7 to February 25, 2026.
 
Each music educator may nominate up to two (2) total students for this course. To be eligible for a nomination, students must currently be a high school junior or senior and must be located in the state of Virginia. The deadline to nominate students is Monday, December 1, 2025. Space is extremely limited, so we encourage you to submit your nominations early. For more information and to nominate a student, visit the link in our bio.

Students pictured from our 2023–24 cohort.

@rvasymphony @vcuartsmusic @virginiamusiceducators #MusicEducation #VMEA #MusicEd #MusicTeacher #MusicTeachersofInstagram