PYO Creates New Philly Youth Jazz Orchestra

Maestro Louis Scaglione, President and Music Director of Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute (PYOMI), is proud to announce the launch of the Philadelphia Youth Jazz Orchestra (PYJO), a new program division of the Institute. PYJO provides advanced instrumental music students the opportunity to learn from world-renowned and highly experienced professional conductors, musicians, and teachers, rehearse professional-level jazz orchestra literature, and perform in high-profile professional venues throughout the greater Philadelphia region.

 

A proud alumnus of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Maestro Justin Faulkner is the founding Director and Conductor of the PYJO, and currently holds the drum chair in the Grammy Award Winning/Six-Time Grammy Nominated Branford Marsalis Quartet. He is a faculty member at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, a Governor of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy, and a creative consultant for the Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.

 

Faulkner shared his enthusiasm about this new division and his role with PYOMI. He said, "It is an honor to return home to the PYOMI family where I was educated and trained as a budding young musician. It is now my turn to offer what was so greatly bestowed upon me by Maestro Louis Scaglione, a new perspective of my responsibility as a musician/artist and a space to learn and develop under the mentorship of the world’s greatest artists and educators. I look forward to working with our jazz musicians and watching them grow with this excellent new opportunity."

 

Maestro Scaglione takes great pride in Faulkner’s success and looks forward to watching more jazz musicians grow and develop under his guidance. He said, “Justin comes to PYOMI with the personal experience as one of our alumni and as a very successful musician and educator. We know the students will be honored to work under his leadership. Anything is possible for our music students and Maestro Justin Faulkner demonstrates that beautifully.”

 

The PYJO will feature classic repertoire from the golden age of the quintessential jazz orchestra and big band format, including works by such great masters as Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.

 

Rehearsals will begin in mid-September on Thursday evenings at Saint Patrick Hall in Center City Philadelphia.  Performances will occur through the winter and spring at the Temple Performing Arts Center (TPAC), and additional master classes and sectional rehearsals will be scheduled throughout the season.   

 

Membership in the Jazz Orchestra is obtained through an audition process.  In person auditions will be held on September 10^th and 11^th. The Philadelphia Youth Jazz Orchestra (PYJO) accepts wind (saxophone), brass (trumpet, trombone, tuba) and rhythm section (drum set, vibraphone, guitar, piano, bass) students ages 15 through 21. Details about auditions can be found at www.pyomusic.org.

 

About PYO Music Institute:

The renowned PYO Music Institute, launching its 83rd season in September, is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected community music education and youth orchestra performance organizations. PYO Music Institute provides talented young musicians from across the tri-state area with exceptional musical training and is committed to training tomorrow’s leaders. Its students go on to excel in diverse fields and many go on to become professional orchestral musicians, performing locally and across the world. Many members of the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra are proud alumni of PYO Music Institute.

 

The new Philadelphia Youth Jazz Orchestra ensemble is one of nine program divisions. The anchor group of the Institute is the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO), conducted by PYOMI President and Music Director Louis Scaglione, which features 125 gifted instrumentalists who range in age from 15-21. Young musicians 13-18 years old are featured in PYO’s companion ensemble, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra (PYAO), which is led by Drexel University Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor Maestra Rosalind Erwin. Young Musicians Debut Orchestra (YMDO), directed by Maestro Kenneth Bean, is a beginning to intermediate-level full symphonic orchestra that provides most students aged 11-17 with their first introduction to playing in a full symphonic orchestra setting. Bravo Brass, directed by former Curtis Institute of Music Dean Maestro Paul Bryan, is an all-brass ensemble for promising middle and high-school instrumentalists. Prysm Strings and Prysm Strings Young Artists ensembles provide large ensemble and sectional master class instruction for beginning and intermediate string students ages 6-14. The director and conductor of Prysm Strings is Gloria dePasquale, former cellist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and conductor of Prysm Strings Young Artists is Andrea Weber. The Philadelphia Youth Symphonic Band ensemble is conducted by Maestro Patrick Bailey for students who are 13 to 18 focusing on wind ensemble and band repertoire. Pizzicato Players, directed by Paul Smith, is an ensemble offering for students who play plucked string instrument which aims to develop critical and large ensemble skills and ensemble experience.  Tune Up Philly – Orchestral Pathways Program (TUP) is the PYO Music Institute’s after-school music program, directed by Paul Smith, that focuses on creating and inspiring true community by providing children in under-resourced communities with invaluable opportunities to learn and perform a differentiated orchestral music curriculum.