The El Camino Youth Symphony (ECYS)
is a youth orchestra located in Palo Alto, California.
More than 450 K-12 students from over 100 schools from San Francisco to Santa Cruz train and perform in five orchestras and four ensembles, led by the award-winning, internationally recognized Symphony Orchestra. The Symphony Orchestra is composed of talented musicians ranging from middle-schoolers to high-schoolers from throughout the Bay Area. The orchestra studies under the baton of Dr. Camilla Kolchinsky, a conductor and master teacher who challenges the musicians to reach a high level of achievement. Other staff include Debra Gardner, clarinetist, who serves as wind coach for all of ECYS and assistant conductor, and Cathy Spieth, the executive director for ECYS. The current concertmaster of the symphony is Timothy Yu, with Eric Jiang as associate.
The Symphony Orchestra performs to capacity crowds (2000+) at Flint Center in Cupertino, CA, and the California Theatre in San Jose, CA.
|
EL CAMINO YOUTH SYMPHONY TICKETS
|
Preparatory Ensembles
In addition to the
Senior Symphony
, ECYS also maintains several preparatory ensembles for less advanced musicians. At the youngest level, students can participate in
Chamber Players
(1-2 years experience) or
Camerata
(3+ years), orchestras led by Dr. Michail Gelfandbien.
Galbraith Honor Strings
, under Dr. Kolchinsky, is a string orchestra named after the founder of ECYS, William Galbraith; its level is between the Camerata and Sinfonietta orchestras. ECYS also offers the
El Camino Wind Orchestra
, conducted by Christopher Florio, which performs wind ensemble repertoire, and prepares students for Sinfonietta and Symphony.
The preparatory ensembles perform at Cubberley Theatre in Palo Alto, CA.
With the increasing number of flutists in the Bay Area, too, ECYS boasts a strong program under the baton Melody Holmes-Schaefle, lecturer at Stanford University. The flute ensemble program has an intermediate level -
Intermezzo
; and an advanced level for experienced flutists - the talented
El Camino Flute Ensemble
. The flute ensemble program also offers students the opportunity to play in chamber music groups with their peers.
The flutes ensembles perform at Community Congregational Church in Sunnyvale, CA.
The intermediate orchestra offered by ECYS is the
Sinfonietta
, also led by Dr. Kolchinsky. This program consists of intensive sectional work and is focused mainly on classical and early romantic repertoire, while preparing junior and high school students for admittance into the Senior Symphony.
The Sinfonietta Orchestra performs at Spangenberg Theatre in Palo Alto CA, and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Mountain View, CA.
Soloists
From the annual
Concerto Competition
, student soloists are selected to play with the various ECYS ensembles. This competition is uniquely for ECYS members with the general requirement that if selected, the winner must remain in the ECYS program for the upcoming season. There is also a piano solo competition which accepts non-members.
ECYS is far from typical in that more than 20 soloists are selected each season to perform with several of the orchestras and ensembles. This practice develops young musicians as artists and trains leaders for the orchestras and ensembles.
Soloists of international stature are invited to perform as guest soloists with the Senior Symphony. This season (2008-2009) the Assistant Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Michelle Kim, and her colleague from the cello section, Sumire Kudo, will perform the Brahms Double Concerto at Flint Center with the Symphony, as well as conduct a master class. In 2008 Martin Chalifour, the Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The featured artist for March 2006 was
Robert Chen,
concertmaster of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
David Kim,
concertmaster of the
Philadelphia Orchestra, performed the Bruch Scottish Fantasy with the Symphony in the October 2006 Benefit Concerts, to standing ovations. Both Robert Chen and David Kim have conducted a Masterclass for ECYS, along with their performances. In 2005 pianist Rueibin Chen performed. In 2002-2003 ECYS presented violinist
Alexander Barantschik, concertmaster of the
San Francisco Symphony, and pianist
Jon Nakamatsu. In recent years the Symphony has performed with pianists Barbara Nissman and Vladimir Viardo, cellist Michail Gelfandbein, and violinists Philip Quint and Bin Huang.
Outreach Program
The ECYS Performance Outreach Program is a great opportunity for ECYS musicians to be in a chamber music group (quartet, trio, quintet, duet, etc.) to provide performances for the community.
ECYS chamber musicians earn community service and get to represent ECYS in performances and competitions.
This program is offered to members of Symphony, Sinfonietta, Galbraith Honor Strings, and the El Camino Flute Ensemble.
The ensembles rehearse with a professional coach from mid-September through mid-May.
International Tours
The Symphony has a long tradition of
international tours
, in recent years touring has occurred during the summer every two years. Recent tours have included England, Scotland, Austria, France and Italy. In the Summer of 2005 the Symphony performed in Central Europe with violinist Daphne Wang (who played the Barber Violin Concerto), where they received standing ovations in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany. In 2007, the Symphony toured the Baltics, visiting the countries Finland, Estonia, and Russia. The featured soloist was piano prodigy Chloe Pang, who played Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.
In 2009 the Symphony will visit Poland and Germany, with soloist Hannah Tarley, violin, who will perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in his house, the famed Gewandhaus of Leipzig.
Annual Retreat
Each August the Symphony launches its season with a week-long
retreat
at
UC Santa Cruz, where the season program is previewed and the instrumentalists work intensively with sectional coaches and the conductor. Seating auditions are also held there, and there is also the traditional trip to the Boardwalk.
Program
The Symphony rehearses weekly throughout the school year, beginning in mid-August and concluding late in May or the first week of June. During the tour years, the Symphony has the Bon Voyages Concerts around the near-end of June, being a preview of the Tour concerts. Prior to each concert program, there are two dress rehearsals.