4-day Orchestra Festival
The Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival is an annual four-day event in April for six (6) high school orchestras. Schools with high percentage of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch are given priority admission. They join together for the 4-day Festival to learn in small innovative group workshops, play music together, bond with peers in their own and other orchestras, and perform as their school orchestra and also together as the Festival Orchestra for a free public concert as part of the Festival’s finale. The Festival includes a performance by a university orchestra. Professional music directors and conductors are the instructors. One of the primary purposes of the Festival is to bring students together to play music without putting any kind of financial barriers or obstacles in their way. Schools participate completely free of charge.
The 4-day April Festival begins on Thursday evening when the school arrive for a pizza dinner and then assemble to create the Festival orchestra and rehearse the two pieces they will perform as part of the public concert as the Festival’s finale.
Friday, the students break into the various workshops and clinics which last approximately 90 minutes. Workshops continue in the afternoon with three of the high school orchestras performing Friday evening along with a university orchestra.
Saturday, is additional workshops and the second rehearsal of the combined Festival orchestra. Saturday evening three high school orchestras perform and the combined Festival orchestra performs as the Festival’s finale. All Festival events and concerts are free and open to the public with a donation requested at the door.
Sunday morning, the students receive free admission to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. In exchange for the free student admission, small ensembles from the high school orchestras perform short programs throughout the Aquarium grounds.
While many fine youth orchestras exist in Oregon as stand-alone, non-profit organizations, the Festival board is specifically interested in supporting and promoting orchestra programs within Oregon’s public schools.
As students expand their skills in reading music, and hone their technical abilities, moving on to play with an ensemble helps these students develop skills in teamwork, personal goal-setting, responsibility to themselves and others, and a sense of pride in their group, school, and community.
The Festival has established and is building a high school orchestra community based in Newport, centered on young musicians, artistic exploration and collaborative performance that lead to recognition of the power of music throughout one’s life. While there are regional and state orchestra competitions, the Festival’s non-competitive activities for high school orchestras, small ensembles, and emerging high school composers is unique.
The Festival’s music director and lead clinician is Adam Flatt. He is Music Director of the Newport Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet, and the University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa Symphony. He is also guest conductor for orchestras, ballet and opera companies all over the country. Each year an acclaimed conductor joins the Festival staff as guest clinician.
The 2025 Festival is coming soon! April 24-27 2025. For more information from the 2024 festival, including a sample schedule, please click here!
Participating schools for the 2025 festival are: Forest Grove, Grants Pass, Klamath Union, Pendleton South Eugene, and Caldera (Bend).
Watch performances from the 2024 festival here.
Festival Finale
Including students from: Astoria, Brookings-Harbor, Newberg, North Medford, North Salem, Summit (Bend-LaPine), and the Newport Youth Symphony of the Oregon Coast.
Florence Price’s: The Old Boatman with Héctor Agüero conducting
Soon Hee Newbold’s: The Odyssey (journey of Odysseus) with Joni Swenson conducting
Guest Orchestra – The Willamette University Chamber Orchestra
Horn Concerto No.1 in D major (Allegro) – J. Haydn
Suor Angelica (Intermezzo) – G. Puccini
Symphony No.5 in C Minor (Allegro con brio) – L. van Beethoven
Astoria High School
Maharaja – Doug Spata
Espressivo for Strings – Vaclav Nelhybel
She Will Hang the Night With Stars – William Hofeldt
Allegro in D for Strings – Antonio Vivaldi Arr. Steven Frackenpohl
Brookings-Harbor High School
Intrigue – Robert Longfield
The Horizon – Yukiko Nishimura
In The Dreams of Zhou – Stephen Chin
Newberg High School
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G (Allegro, Adagio) – JS Bach
Yorkshire Ballad – James Barnes
Persius – Soon Hee Newbold
North Medford High School
Variation on a Well-Known Sea Chantey – arranged by Richard Stephan
Swamp Thang – Richard Meyer
North Salem High School
Intermezzo – Alexander von Kreisler
La Melancolie – Ole Bull/Arr. Johan Halvorsen
Orchestral Quartet in C major, Op. 4, No. 1 (Allegro assai, Andante di molto, Poco presto) – Karl Stamitz
Summit High School
Reflexions – Carold Nunez
Furusato – Okano, arr. Yukiko Nishimura
The Haunted Ballroom – Chris Thomas