“With more than 90 young musicians, Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra is alive and well in Orange County. And its secret to success may be simpler than expected,” writes Heather Youmans in Sunday’s (7/13) Orange County Register (California). “When youth symphony music director and conductor Daniel Wachs is looking to spice things up and pinpoint best practices, he goes straight to the source: the kids. With the orchestra’s 45th-anniversary 2014-15 season just around the corner, Wachs went back to the drawing board during the orchestra’s bi-annual staff retreat in June.… And for the first time, there was an extra seat at the table for—you guessed it—a student. ‘At first, when they called me and asked if I could be a part of it, I felt kind of weird thinking it’s all of these adults and just one student, just me,’ said cellist William Tsai, 17, who joined the orchestra in 2012. ‘But when I got there, they talked to me like they would an adult.’ … Tsai, an incoming Irvine High School senior, was on hand to offer the perspective of a student in the orchestra, offering feedback on new ideas, overall operations, and how the conductors and sections could better work together.”
Posted July 17, 2014
Pictured: Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra musicians at a 2013 photo shoot.
