YPSO celebrates its 86th season and Maestro David Ramadanoff’s 34th season as music director/conductor. He will be conducting 94 young musicians who range in age from 11 to 21, and hail from many Bay Area cities, including three Piedmont students — Samantha Cheunkarndee (Violin) 10th grade at Piedmont High, Kasandra Dagnese (Violin) 10th grade at Holy Names High School, and Sophena Tuli (Clarinet) 10th grade at Piedmont High.
To kick it off, YPSO’s Fall Concert will feature young musicians performing Dvořák’s Scherzo Capriccioso, Copland’s Billy the Kid Suite, and Falla’s Suites 1 & 2 from the ballet The Three-Cornered Hat.
YPSO students engage in a wide range of orchestral music works spanning multiple musical eras and with composers from various backgrounds – in this concert, Czech, Spanish, and American heritages.
This season, YPSO is changing their concert start time. Please note the new earlier time of 7:30 p.m. in order to accommodate audience members and their commute home.
For YPSO’s COVID-Safety protocols this season, they are asking that audiences stay masked while indoors.
Founded in Berkeley in 1936, YPSO is the oldest youth orchestra in California and the first independent youth orchestra in the nation. The 2022-23 season is the 86th since violinist and conductor Jessica Marcelli founded YSPO at the suggestion of Clarabelle Bell, an amateur harpist and Berkeley resident, who got the idea after hearing the Portland Junior Symphony.
YPSO’s mission is to “encourage young people to become exemplary musicians and young musicians to become exemplary people”. The organization puts on four regular concerts per season. In addition, they reach out through programs such as Bread and Roses and the Bay Area Music Project to bring music into the lives of the surrounding community and encourage the civic development of its students. YPSO will also host a free open dress rehearsal program on Friday Oct. 28, 2022 at 6 pm for families with children ages 12 and under, and elementary/middle school classes accompanied by a teacher.
YPSO still has space for select instruments: one trombone, one bassoon, one trumpet, some viola and cello. Audition details HERE.
Contact YPSO to make arrangements at open-rehearsals@ypsomusic.org
Fall Concert 2022
Scherzo Capriccioso by A. Dvořák (1883)
Billy the Kid Suite by A. Copland (1939)
Suites 1 & 2 from the ballet The Three Cornered Hat
by M. de Falla (1916)
Where: First Congregational Church of Berkeley
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
When: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022; 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Box Office: http://www.ypsomusic.org/tickets
(510) 849-9776
Concert info: http://www.ypsomusic.org
Venue Info: http://www.firstchurchberkeley.org/