By Tristan Willcox

In 2019, the Spartanburg Philharmonic Youth Orchestra was officially launched as a program intended to help grow the musicianship, repertoire, and musical maturity of some of Upstate South Carolina’s best young players. They currently have over one hundred members across two orchestras (a Junior and a Senior division) and are still growing. With an upcoming concert planned as early as October and rehearsals already underway, these student musicians certainly have an excitingly full season ahead of them! And of course none of the events nor any of the rehearsals would be possible without the extremely involved staff members on hand, including conductors, managers, music librarians, and gracious volunteers. However, the SPYO wasn’t always the same expansive, well-oiled machine that you know today. They had their beginnings four years ago in a strategic plan meeting with the Board of Directors not as an orchestra, but as an idea — and as a promising possibility.

As soon as the plans for the youth orchestra’s creation were set in motion, the Philharmonic staff immediately reached out to high school band and orchestra directors across the community in order to discover ways that the SPYO could support their education programs and judge interest in the existence of a youth orchestra. It wasn’t long after the motion was officially passed before several passionate, local volunteers jumped at the chance to help. One of the most prominent members of this group was Mrs. Helen Tipton. In 2018, Helen joined her first three year term on the Board and quickly became a major player in the youth orchestra’s actualization. Alongside her, Bob Borden, the Philharmonic’s music librarian, gladly took on a second role as co-manager of the group. Another impressive addition to the team: Dr. Susie Lalama, the current Senior Youth Orchestra’s conductor. She was hired with only a few short months to settle in before she began adjudicating auditions in May of 2019.

After a lively and wildly successful initial season, the youth orchestra crew was optimistic and decided to tackle the next big question that had been looming over them that year. Should there be a second youth orchestra? They believed that the momentum from the positive responses to their first group in 2019 would carry over strongly with the announcement of a Junior youth orchestra — and they were correct! Early in the 2019-2020 season, history repeated itself as the search for staffing and a conductor for the Junior orchestra commenced. Once again, there was endless support from students, teachers, parents, and subscribers for the creation of the Junior group. Johanna Wilson was hired as the Junior conductor and fulfilled her role spectacularly. According to Executive Director Kathryn Boucher, “the goal was to find the right balance between teacher and go-getter/self-starter. Johanna has stepped up for everything that we’ve asked of her!” Audition material was prepped, rehearsals scheduled, and concerts planned. All was proceeding swimmingly.

That is, of course, until March of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, closing businesses and shutting down performing arts worldwide. For the SPYO, that meant weekly rehearsals had to be put on hold, and the Senior orchestra’s final concert that season — planned for just a few weeks later — would have to be canceled entirely. Auditions were held online, which greatly hindered the recruitment process for the Junior orchestra. There was still a fairly large turnout, however, and the SPYO staff and members alike were thrilled to continue moving forward as soon as was made possible.

Currently, the Spartanburg Philharmonic Youth Orchestra’s 100+ members are rehearsing in person and are thrilled to prepare for their audience a quickly approaching April concert! Having personally worked many of the concerts they have previously put on either as film crew, as general help, or even as a performer, I can attest to their formidableness as an ensemble. In an effort to learn what other great things the youth orchestra might have in store for all of us in the long term, I got in contact with the aforementioned Kathryn Boucher and discussed some of the big-picture goals for the program.

Tristan Willcox is a graduate of Spartanburg High School, a talented musician and composer, and an intern turned volunteer for the Spartanburg Philharmonic. Tristan’s composition “Battle at Byrjun” premiered at the 2019 Homegrown concert and he continues to assist with arranging music for new programs.