Not only is the return to Southgate and a new season a fresh start, it’s also the first big program for the organization’s new youth education programs manager, Ellen Raquet, a former youth symphony musician.
“Southgate is excited for our return and the kids seem to enjoy playing in a new location. The building and its facilities work for this type of concert and it helps build community partnerships,” she said.
Five groups will perform including the Springfield Youth Symphony, Youth Chamber Orchestra, Youth String Ensemble, Children’s Chorus and Youth Choir. Music from the Live Wire ensembles will usher in those attending the show beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Each group will do three to four pieces, demonstrating what they’ve learned over the past few months.
Highlights will include the Youth Symphony performing “Peer Gynt Suite” and excerpts from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute Overture,” the Chamber Orchestra doing “The Moldau” and the Children’s Chorus singing songs from “The Greatest Showman.”
Students come from as far as the Columbus and Dayton areas to get more out of their musical interests through these programs.
Raquet said she’d been interested in her position when it was open previously and it resurfaced earlier this year she was ready.
“This time the position fits,” she said.
Raquet spent five years in the Youth Symphony as a violinist. Her family lived in New Carlisle and later moved to Beavercreek, but she was grateful the program allowed students from outside Clark County to participate as it fulfilled her musical ambitions, going on to perform over the years with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and in other professional capacities.
Her siblings also participated and their parents were supportive even with the long drives to rehearsals. But they remember to this day.
“Being in this orchestra was one of the highlights of my high school experience. It helped me enjoy music on a deeper level,” Raquet said.
That’s where she wants to help other aspiring youth musicians. Her goal is to continue growing the orchestras, offering a warm community for musicians, a place where music is enjoyed. If you put in the work, you can be a part of it.
The program will have auditions for the upcoming spring semester in the near future and Raquet encourages students with serious musical aspirations to consider auditioning.
She would like anyone interested in music and supporting young musicians and singers to attend Monday’s concert as many communities don’t have such programs.
“Springfield should be proud of these programs and can see how hard these kids have worked and how far they’ve come,” she said.
MORE DETAILS
The program will also offer a concert showcasing the student musicians’ progress after nearly a year in the spring. For more information on the youth orchestra and choir programs or the concert, go to www.springfieldsym.org/.
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