Mid-season Auditions Now Open for Youth Orchestra Program

Congratulations to the 6th cohort of our Future Music Educators Symposium (FMES), who just presented a special showcase on their final day of class! ✨ The students participating in this year’s symposium included high school juniors and seniors from across the state of Virginia. Throughout the eight weeks of the symposium, each student worked on their own project, which they presented to their peers in a showcase yesterday evening. The 2026 symposium was led by Dr. Sandy Goldie, Department Chair and Director of Music Education at VCUarts Music.

@rvasymphony #MusicEducation #MusicEd #Teach #ClassicalMusic

We’re introducing a new feature on our social media platforms—the Student Showcase! Our first Student Showcase features Andrew, RSYO double bassist. 🎶

Andrew recently performed in the All-Virginia Jazz Ensemble, which is Virginia’s most prestigious program for high school jazz musicians. Following an incredibly competitive audition against students from across the state, Andrew was selected as the first chair bassist for this season’s Jazz Ensemble, and he performed alongside them at the Virginia Music Educators Association’s annual conference in November 2025.

Andrew is a senior at Thomas Dale High School, where he participates in both orchestra and jazz band. Though we’ve only had Andrew in our Youth Orchestra Program for one year, we’ll greatly miss him when he graduates this spring, and are grateful he’s sharing his talents with us during his senior year. Congratulations, Andrew! 🎶🎉

@andrew_grogan_bass @virginiamusiceducators @tdhsorchestra @rvasymphony #VMEA #JazzBass #JazzEnsemble #MusicEducation #StudentShowcase

You’re invited! ✉️🎶 The Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony come together in Carpenter Theatre for their first side-by-side performance since February 2020, weaving youth orchestra students together with professional musicians in each section of the orchestra.

The program will include works by Bizet, Márquez, Mascagni, Smetana, and Tchaikovsky and will be conducted by Hae Lee, RSYO conductor and Jack and Mary Ann Frable Associate Conductor Chair.

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RSYO and Richmond Symphony Side-by-Side
Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 7:00pm
Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Energy Center
Admission is free; no ticket is required

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@rvasymphony #YouthOrchestra #MusicEd #ClassicalMusic #Symphony #RVA

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! 🎶✨

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“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.

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