Youth Orchestra Program
Camerata Strings
Camerata Strings is the intermediate-level string ensemble of the Youth Orchestra Program.
2026-2027 Full Season Tuition: $560
Not sure which ensemble to visit? Learn more about the ensembles here. Or feel free to Email us at education@richmondsymphony.com.
About Camerata Strings
Melissa Jones, conductor
Melissa Jones is delighted to direct the Sinfonietta String Ensemble with the Richmond Symphony School of Music and its Youth Orchestra Program. She received music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Tennessee. She taught Strings in Hanover County Public Schools for sixteen years and is currently in her 3rd year as current director of Orchestras at Collegiate School in Richmond, VA. She has guest conducted for honors school programs in Virginia and has served as an adjudicator for state-wide orchestra assessments. Ms. Jones is especially driven to explore and appreciate a diverse set of music styles and genres as applied to our orchestral instruments.
Ms. Jones maintains a private studio of violin and viola students and is an active musician in the Richmond scene. Her current musical project is performing with the local indie rock band, Timothy Bailey and the Humans; she enjoys being a violin playing human. She has participated in many album recordings and has performed with local and regional orchestras on violin and viola.
Ms. Jones is a member of The National Association for Music Education, the Virginia Band and Director’s Association, and the American String Teachers Association. Melissa resides in Ashland, VA with her husband, Aaron, and two sons, Charlie (4) and Ezekiel (23), where they enjoy spinning records, making up songs, and building epic lego creations.
Orchestra Director, Collegiate School
Intermediate-Level Strings
Violin, Viola, Cello & Bass
Rehearsal Time: Mondays 5:00pm-6:45pm, September-May
Rehearsal Location:Â Richmond’s First Baptist Church (2709 Monument Ave, Richmond, VA 23220)
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Camerata Strings is the intermediate-level string ensemble of the Youth Orchestra Program. To gain entrance into Camerata, students must pass an audition, the first such experience for many students. In this ensemble students learn proper rehearsal etiquette, how to make music as an ensemble, and take seating auditions regularly. Students’ skills are challenged with increasingly difficult repertoire and attention to phrasing, bowings, dynamics, and articulations.
Interested in auditioning for the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program? Click here to sign up for an audition.
Audition Requirements
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