Recap: First Youth Community Strings Performance of the Year

We’re missing all of our students during this unexpected week of snow days, but excited to finally see everyone again at next week’s classes and rehearsals! ✨🎼 Swipe to see some of our favorite memories from the year prior, including youth orchestra performances, holiday concerts, masterclasses with guest artists, and more—and fingers crossed the weather eases up so we can make more memories (and music) again soon, starting next week! ❄️🎻

Photos by Dave Parrish Photography (@rvaphotog), James H Loving Photography (@jamesloving), Adrienne Broom Creates (@yoadriennecreates), Anna Mitchell (@annamiitchcreates), and the photography team at The St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

@rvasymphony #richmondsymphony #orchestra #youthorchestra #classicalmusic #concert #richmond #rva #rvakids #rvaart #rvamusic

Calling all beginning violists, cellists, and double bassists! If making more music is on your list of New Year’s resolutions, then String Sinfonietta is the place for you! 🎻

Sinfonietta is open to any string musician who has played their instrument for at least one year. In this ensemble, students learn the basics of playing in an orchestra. They learn about their section within the orchestra, and their role within the section. Students learn to watch and follow a conductor, and how to listen to other sections in the orchestra. Above all, the young musicians in Sinfonietta learn the joy of making music with others.

To register and learn more about recommended fundamentals, visit the link in our bio and fill out the inquiry form. Sinfonietta’s violin section is full at this time, and we will be recruiting new violinists at the start of next school year. Registration for Sinfonietta is open until the ensemble is full and some sections may close before others.

Photos by James H Loving Photography (@jamesloving).

@rvasymphony #violin #viola #cello #doublebass #orchestra #youthorchestra #violinist #violist #cellist #doublebassist

Though we may be nearing the end of the calendar year, December marks an important moment for String Sinfonietta, Camerata Strings, and Youth Concert Orchestra: our first concert of the year! Last week at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 150 of our young musicians took the stage, performing works including Erica Donahoe’s Alpine Glory, Todd Parrish’s Boreas, and Bedřich Smetana’s Moldau.

Mark your calendars for our YOP spring concerts coming up in May! Sinfonietta, Camerata, and YCO will take the stage again on Monday, May 19 at the Carpenter Theatre in the Dominion Energy Center. 

Photos by James H Loving Photography (@jamesloving).

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This Sunday, The Saint Paul’s Baptist Church (@myspbc) welcomed our Youth Community Strings students to the stage! Our cohort of young violinists performed Carol of the Bells during a Sunday service at Saint Paul’s Creighton Road campus. On top of receiving a standing ovation from the parish, the livestream was viewed by an additional 3,000 people!

Thank you to Saint Paul’s for all they do to support our program, and congrats to our Youth Community Strings students on another magical performance! 🎻✨

Photos by Leon Hughes of the SPBC Photography team.

@rvasymphony @spbc_imagination #musiceducation #violin #violinstudent #orchestra #elementarymusic #carolofthebells #rvasymphony #richmondsymphony

NOMINATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 11:59 PM ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18! It’s time for music teachers to nominate students for our Future Music Educators Symposium (FMES)! This 8-week online program, offered in the spring semester, is designed to provide a meaningful experience for students who show exceptional promise and passion for a future career in music education. Virginia high school juniors and seniors are selected through teacher nominations and 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, representing all of the rich diversity that exists in the world of music education. The class meets online on Wednesdays from mid-January to mid-March.

With the guidance and curriculum of Dr. Sandy Goldie, Director of Music Education at VCUarts Music, we are delighted to have a special guest lead teacher for our 5th annual cohort—Dr. Angela Ammerman! Referred to by the Washington Post as the first “music teacher prodigy,” Dr. Ammerman is the author of the Music Teacher’s Guide series and hostess of the viral Instagram page @musicteachersguide. 

Teachers can nominate students to participate through the link in our bio. Virginia high school juniors and seniors are eligible to participate and the deadline to nominate students is Monday, December 16, 2024. Space is extremely limited, so we encourage you to place your nominations early.

First photo: Our 2024 FMES cohort on Zoom with Dr. Sandy Goldie. Second photo: Headshot of Dr. Angela Ammerman.

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