It is the purpose of the Portland Youth Philharmonic Association to maintain the finest possible youth orchestra in order to inspire and educate young people through performing symphonic music and to provide a cultural asset for the community.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic Association supports two full symphony orchestras and one string orchestra for younger musicians. Each group is made up of outstanding young musicians chosen by open auditions each spring and early fall and seated solely according to ability. They range in age from 7 to 22, come from communities across the region, and represent over 100 different schools. Membership demands their commitment to an intensive schedule of rehearsals and the performance of a repertoire that closely parallels that of major professional orchestras. Programs and services are intended to have an impact on access to music educational opportunities for musicians and audiences alike — by identifying and training talented young musicians and offering educational outreach programs for others.
For more information, call: 503.223.5939 or go to www.portlandyouthphil.org.
The PYP 2011-12 season performances are listed to the right.
Multiple Premieres, a Piano Concerto, Popular Symphonies and a Taste of Persian Music Mark PYP’s 88th Concert Season.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic’s 88th Season opens on November 12, 2011 with the Fall Concert in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m., David Hattner, conducting. PYP’s Biennial Piano Competition Winner Fred Lu will take center stage for the first PYP performance of Beethoven’s epic final Piano Concerto, “Emperor”. The rest of the program is dedicated to the UK. Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances showcases his brilliant orchestration and devilish humor. George Butterworth’s short life produced several masterworks. This idyll, “The Banks of Green Willow” helped define British impressionism. We close with Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”, a tribute to his closest friends, each represented by his or her own variation.
Four ensembles and an alumni orchestra perform in PYP’s popular and festive answer to a holiday concert held, as it is every year, on December 26th at 7:30 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Dance music has been a part of the orchestral literature as long as orchestras have existed. Wallingford Riegger explores American rhythms in his 1930s work, “New Dance.” Aaron Copland’s “Danzon Cubano” embodies the controlled passion of the Danzon. Finally we have Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours”, a work so famous Walt Disney chose to set it (for dancing Hippos and Alligators) in Fantasia.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic’s Winter Concert March 10, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall will open with Carlos Surinach’s “Paeans and Dances of Heathen Iberia”, a tribute to Medieval Spain’s rituals. Taken from actual Spanish music and scored for winds, brass and percussion, David Hattner selected it because it will be a great display for our musicians. After the annual Concerto Competition winner performs, the orchestra will pay tribute to Gustav Mahler. His Symphony No. 4 is his gentlest, most intimate symphony. Guest Cara Gabrielson will sing the final movement, a setting of the Wunderhorn song “The Heavenly Life” in which a child describes Heaven to those who can only imagine its delights.
On May 6, 2012, the Portland Youth Philharmonic will present its second annual Sunday matinee. The Spring Concert, also in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall will be held at 4:00 p.m. David Hattner, Conductor and Music Director, and the Portland Youth Philharmonic will present their first performance of Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral, one of the most performed orchestral works written in the last 20 years. Sensemaya, a miniature virtuoso masterpiece by Silvestre Revueltas, has been called “The Mexican Rite of Spring” for its stunning orchestration, counterpoint and power. PYP will close the season with an all-time favorite, Brahms’ Second Symphony.
Growing in popularity is PYP’s new Chamber Orchestra mini-series. Dates this year are January 29, 2012 and April 29, 2012. Both concerts are at 4:00 p.m. in the Wieden+Kennedy Building. The January Chamber Orchestra concert welcomes Hossein and Bobak Salehi as guest artists for Henry Cowell’s beautiful and exotic Persian Set. They will perform on the Persian instruments Cowell discovered during his study period in Iran in the 1950s. As a special treat, the PYP Chamber Orchestra will also premiere a new work by the Salehis for the same forces as Cowell’s work. The concert will open with the first PYP performance of a work by Osvaldo Golijov, an Argentinian composer whose work is taking the world by storm. This work, dedicated to Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzola, overflows with passion. The April Chamber Orchestra Concert will feature the all-time greatest symphonic composer, Beethoven, and his Symphony No. 1.
