This is not the Spokane Symphony.

This is the sound of the Spokane Youth Symphony.

In 2024, they are celebrating their 75th Anniversary.

Hi, I'm Phil Baldwin.

I'm the director of the Spokane Youth Symphony.

75 years of this youth orchestra, organization is to me, a win.

Spokane Youth Symphony is comprised of four different orchestras.

We have the strings orchestra at the beginning level, Sinfonietta at the next level.

Philharmonic at the next level.

And then I conduct the Youth Symphony.

Okay.

We are at 249.

It's cellos, then seconds, and then firsts.

Three and four...

This organization serves young musicians from all around the area.

We have students coming all the way from Coeur dAlene, from Sandpoint.

We even have one student who travels up from Oregon, even though they've spent an entire day at school and they're exhausted by the time they get there.

Thinking, I don't know if I can make it through this rehearsal, but the music just energizes everybody in the room.

And I think that synergy of of trying your best of sitting next to somebody who may challenge you, doing it for the sheer joy of making music together.

I think that brings an incredible amount of energy into the room.

The Spokane Youth Symphony gives students an opportunity to showcase their love of music and challenge their own abilities.

Gorgeous.

That was it.

Clear?

Wonderful.

So let's talk just about a couple of things here.

But really, it's lovely what you're doing.

And when we are all on the same page in terms of of placing those fourth beats, its magical.

My name is Samuel Miller.

I'm a 10th grader at Gonzaga Prep, and I'm a violinist for the Spokane Youth Symphony.

When I started playing music, I was six years old.

I was inspired, actually, by a Spokane Youth Symphony performance that a family friend of mine participated in.

So a piece that really stood out to me in the orchestra and I thought would be impossible to learn was Mars Bringer of War.

Through the mentorship, through the sectionals, and working with the coaches, I was able to perform it at a high level.

That made me feel proud not only of myself, but of the orchestra as a whole, for being able to put something like that together.

The Spokane Youth Symphony has been helping students grow their talents ever since it first began 75 years ago.

Well, I'm Jennifer O'Bannon.

I'm the executive director of Spokane Youth Symphony.

The Spokane Youth Symphony was actually started in July of 1949.

It was started by the man who at the time had been the conductor of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and that was Harold Paul Whelan.

Originally, the organization was called the Spokane Junior Symphony.

They had 30 students, and they had their first concert on May 23rd, 1950.

Whelan worked with the Spokane Junior Symphony until 1962, when they then Spokane Symphony conductor Donald Thulean took the reins.

Thulean helped grow the Junior Symphony.

In 1969, the one orchestra expanded into two.

The Junior Symphony was starting to grow quickly.

By the late 1990s four separate orchestras had been created.

And, in 2011, these orchestras were given their current names: Spokane Youth Strings Spokane Youth Sinfonietta Spokane Youth Philharmonic and Spokane Youth Symphony Ochestra Through the years, performances were done at high school theaters or at the community college.

That's the way it was, all the way until 2007, when the opportunity opened up for us to be at the Fox Theater consistently.

The program grew as a result because that made it even more exciting.

They got great training, great music, and now they had a great place to play it.

So I will re-typeset it for you tomorrow.

Okay.

But just read it up a step for today.

Okay.

So number two, rehearsal two.

I think without the Spokane Youth Symphony, we would lose a lot.

I think young musicians are looking for something to challenge themselves and to really learn what it means to be an orchestral musician.

Well, I began playing the violin in fourth grade in South Dakota.

I was really lucky.

I grew up in a little town called Yankton, and there was a wonderful teacher there.

She actually invited me to be a part of the youth orchestra that was there in Yankton.

I do remember being really excited to go every week and work in this little orchestra.

And then in high school, actually had a chance to live in England.

We were living just outside of Cambridge, England, and I was lucky enough to join the Cambridge Youth Symphony for half a season.

And all of those experiences were what prepared me to go off and study music in universities.

I think those were very formative experiences.

I think they allow me to put myself in the place of our own students here in the Spokane Youth Symphony and try and make their experience as meaningful as possible.

I would say the Spokane Youth Symphony and the conductors have not only fostered a love for music, but really propelled my motivation and skill past what it would be otherwise.

I really love playing music because I feel like it really connects to something inside of me, and helps me bring out the best of what I can be.

My wish for this organization is that it persists.

It continues to bring joy, to the students and to audiences and train musicians in the way that they can either go on to be appreciators of music, or they can become professional musicians.