Excerpts for EPYS Winds and Brass and EPYSP strings can be found under "Audition Requirements" in the Auditions panel above. Click on your orchestra and yourinstrument and look for "Seating Audition" music.
The All State Clinic has been postponed to Saturday, September 20.
Please check back soon for more details.
Youth orchestra features best musicians in El Paso region By Benjamin Loeb / Guest columnist Article Launched: 08/10/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT
There is some confusion in our community about our youth orchestras that I would like to take the opportunity to clarify The El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras (EPSYOs), often confused with EPYSO, is alive and well.
Our youth orchestra system is the largest education program of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. With eight ensembles, almost 300 members, and paid staff of 12, we are the only youth orchestra program in this region that has received national recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, state support from Texas Commission for the Arts, and local support through the Museum and Cultural Arts Department. As part of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra Association, we are a fully compliant 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
In December of 2005, soon after the El Paso Symphony Association Board approved of our creation, we registered the names of our organization and the individual orchestras (El Paso Youth Orchestra, El Paso Youth Symphony, El Paso Youth String Ensemble, and El Paso Youth String Philharmonic) with the Texas Secretary of State. These names, which had not been previously registered at the state level, were chosen because they accurately represent who we are -- the El Paso Symphony's Youth Orchestras.
Our entire faculty is highly credentialed, including two with doctorates in music. Guillermo Quezada teaches viola at New Mexico State University; Dr. Benjamin Vickers and Nancy Morey are the Eastwood and Hanks high-school orchestra directors, respectively. All hold graduate degrees in music. Other regular faculty members teach in EPISD, YISD and SISD, and perform with the El Paso Symphony.
Our members have unique opportunities to study with master teachers. This year, Roberto Diaz, president of the Curtis Institute of Music and former Principal Viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, will lead a master class. Past guest artists include faculty from Juilliard, UT Austin, TCU, UNT, Texas Tech, UTEP and NMSU; plus members of the Dallas Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York City Opera Orchestra, and international soloists and conductors, including EPSO Music Director Sarah Ioannides.
Because we charge for tuition, our members appreciate the value of their participation. But, we also have an ironclad financial aid guarantee that no member will be prevented from participating because of finances. The high quality experience we offer is expensive. Tuition covers only one quarter of our actual expenses while the remainder comes from ticket and merchandise sales and from individual, corporate and foundation support.
Both the EPSO and the EPSYOs offer students in the EPISD and the entire Paso del Norte region unique and exceptional opportunities to perform great works from the orchestral canon, and EPISD is making it possible. We are a part of the EPISD Plan for Excellence and, as such, we were granted a room-use fee waiver, allowing us to rehearse in EPISD facilities without charge. While 58 percent of our members are from EPISD, 9 percent come from YISD, 10 percent from SISD and 10 per cent from UTEP and NMSU. We even have members from Deming, Alamogordo and Clint, and we had seven members last year from Juárez, making us the only regularly meeting international youth orchestra in the world.
We have auditions at the end of August for our season, which begins on Sept. 13. We will perform five concerts at the Abraham Chavez and Plaza Theatres, including our Side-by-Side Concert on March 29, 2009, featuring the EPSYOs Concerto Competition Grand Prize winner. You can find information about all our programs at www.EPSYOs.org
We are proud of the accomplishments of our members -- the region's best young musicians! We look forward to many years of growth and success.
Benjamin Loeb is music and executive director, El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras.
This clinic is designed primarily for young musicians interested in preparing for Texas all-State auditions, although college, middle school and New Mexico students are welcome and encouraged to participate. Strings will have individualized sessions to focus on both etudes and excerpts, woodwinds, brass and percussion will have sectionals devoted to specific all-State repertoire, and all participants will prepare the all-State repertoire in a full orchestra setting. EPSYOs staff and guest artists/teachers from around the state and the US will lead the sessions.
Click here for more information about dates, times, and how to apply.