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The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony. Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910 when music teacher Mary V. Dodge began playing music for local children in Burns. Dodge purchased instruments for the children and organized the orchestra which would become known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. After touring throughout the U.S. state of Oregon, including a performance at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, the orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge moved to Portland. There, Irvington School Orchestra members formed the Portland Junior Symphony. The ensemble's name was changed to the Portland Youth Philharmonic in 1978.

PYP has had five conductors and music directors during its history: Jacques Gershkovitch (1924–1953), Jacob Avshalomov (1954–1995), Huw Edwards (1995–2002), Mei-Ann Chen (2002–2007), and professional clarinetist David Hattner (2008–present). Today the Portland Youth Philharmonic Association consists of four ensembles, including the Philharmonic Orchestra, Conservatory Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and the Young String Ensemble. Participating musicians range in age from seven to twenty-two years old and represent dozens of schools within the Portland metropolitan area and other surrounding communities.

Mary V. Dodge

Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra

According to student Anne Shannon Monroe, music teacher and violinist Mary V. Dodge moved to Burns, Oregon around 1910 and began playing music for local children at her husband's engineering camp. With funds provided by rancher Bill Hanley, lawyer and artist Charles Erskine Scott Wood, and additional Burns businessmen, Dodge purchased musical instruments for the children and organized an orchestra of thirty to thirty-five members. The orchestra's first concert was held in 1912. By 1915, the orchestra was touring throughout Eastern Oregon on a Chautauqua circuit, and in September 1916 they visited Western Oregon. Now known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble won $100 at the Oregon State Fair in Salem and performed several concerts in Portland, including one for the opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink at the Portland Hotel. Schumann-Heink planned to support the orchestra's efforts to tour, but the nation's involvement in World War I interrupted plans for additional tours. The orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge relocated to Portland.

Establishment of the Portland Junior Symphony

In Portland, Dodge opened a violin school and led the Irvington School Orchestra, which became known as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS) beginning in 1924.

Jacques Gershkovitch (1924–1953)

Born in Irkutsk, Russia, Jacques Gershkovitch was sent to Saint Petersburg at an early age to study at the Imperial Conservatory. There he learned from respected Russian composers such as Alexander Glazunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Nikolai Tcherepnin, and completed coursework in opera and ballet production. Gershkovitch graduated in 1913 with the title of "laureate", the conservatory's highest honor, and was awarded the Schubert Scholarship under German conductor Arthur Nikisch. In 1916, Gershkovitch became head of the Imperial Russian Army's military symphony orchestra, a position he held through the revolution. After conditions prevented him from continuing, Gershkovitch returned to Irkutsk and organized a fine arts institute. The institute was successful, and by 1920 enrollment had reached more than 1,550 students.

Gershkovitch then left Russia to join a former colleague's orchestra, which was touring throughout the Orient. After three months of touring, Gershkovitch settled in Tokyo to undertake the newly-organized Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra's premiere concert took place at the Imperial Hotel auditorium, and many concerts followed until the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923. Following the disaster, Gershkovitch and his wife left for San Francisco then eventually made their way to Portland, Oregon. It was here that Gershkovitch was approached by Dodge and two of her students to lead the Portland Junior Symphony.

Under conductor Gershkovitch's leadership, the group was founded as the first youth orchestra in the United States. The PJS performed for the first time on February 14, 1925 at the Lincoln High School Auditorium (which later became Portland State University's Lincoln Hall), playing two movements of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. According to Ronald Russell, author of A New West to Explore (1938), the audience "had experienced a new emotional thrill, and forthwith became strong advocates and supporters of the junior symphony cause."

Gershkovitch, known for his discipline and high performance standards, conducted the orchestra for twenty-nine years, gaining national attention for the ensemble and pioneering the youth orchestra movement. During Gershkovitch's tenure, PJS concerts were broadcast internationally on the CBS Radio Network and a Preparatory Orchestra (later renamed the Conservatory Orchestra) was added due to increased membership. Gershkovitch tried to incorporate at least one American composition in each concert. Following Gershkovitch's death in 1953, guest conductors lead the orchestra for its thirtieth season—one conductor was Jacob Avshalomov, a Columbia University teacher and PJS alumnus who had studied under Gershkovitch while a student at Reed College (1939–1941).

Jacob Avshalomov (1954–1995)

Known for encouraging international tours, Avshalomov became the orchestra's second conductor in 1954. During his forty-year tenure, the Avshalomov produced several recordings, several including pieces commissioned by the orchestra, making PJS the first known recording orchestra in the Pacific Northwest. The orchestra became known as the Portland Youth Philharmonic in 1978. Avshalomov retired in 1995 after an estimated 640 concerts and 10,000 auditions.

Huw Edwards (1995–2002)

Avshalomov was replaced by Welsh-born Huw Edwards, whose accomplishments with the orchestra included an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1997, representing the United States at the Banff International Festival of Youth Orchestras in 1998, and an international tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2000. Edwards also established a peer mentoring program, partnering orchestra musicians with low-income students with little access to music education.

Mei-Ann Chen (2002–2007)

Taiwan native Mei-Ann Chen became PYP's fourth conductor in 2002. During Chen's five-year tenure with the organization, PYP debuted at Carnegie Hall, earned another ASCAP award in 2004, and began working with the Oregon Symphony (Chen was the organization's assistant conductor from 2003 to 2005). Chen also won the Malko Competition in 2005 and accompanied to orchestra on a four-city Asian tour. Chen left the PYP in 2007 to become the assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony. Guests conductors during the 2007–2008 season included Ken Selden, director of orchestral studies at Portland State University, former Seattle Symphony conductor Alastair Willis, along with former PYP conductors Edwards and Chen.

David Hattner (2008–present)

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Tours

PJS made its first international tour to England, Italy and Portugal in 1970. Subsequent international tours included Japan in 1979, Austria and Yugoslavia in 1984, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Hungary in 1989, Japan and South Korea in 1992, and Germany in 1994. Additional international tours occurred in 2000 when PYP traveled to Australia and New Zealand under the leadership of Huw Edwards, and in 2007 when the orchestra performed in six concerts throughout Taiwan (Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Taipei) and South Korea (Ulsan and Seoul).

In 1998, PYP was the sole representative of the United States at the Banff International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Canada. The orchestra's Carnegie Hall debut was in 2004.

Reception

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Awards and recognitions

In 1993, ASCAP honored PYP with its award for "Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music". ASCAP awarded PYP with second and third awards in 1997 and 2004, respectively. In 2010, PYP received the Oregon Symphony's Patty Vemer Excellence in Music Education Award. Created in memory of Patty Vemer, once the director of music education at the Oregon Symphony, the award "honors those who have made significant contributions to music education and their community and who have served as an inspiration to their students".

Alumni

Notable alumni of the orchestra include Robert Mann, who helped found the Juilliard String Quartet, and Eugene Linden, founder and conductor of the Tacoma Philharmonic Orchestra. Other professional musicians that were once part of the orchestra include Glenn Reeves, later a principal violist for the Oregon Symphony, Brian Hamilton, who became a cellist player for the Tacoma Philharmonic Orchestra, and Marion Fox, who also later joined the Oregon Symphony as a violinist. Harp player Frances Pozzi and Earl Rankin later became staff artists for KOIN and KGW, respectively.

Recordings

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See also

• American classical music
• List of youth orchestras in the United States

References

General

• Avshalomov, Jacob (1959). Music Is Where You Make It: A Panoramic View of the Portland Junior Symphony. Portland, Oregon: The Portland Junior Symphony Association. LCC ML200.8.P82 J8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Avshalomov, Jacob (1979). Music Is Where You Make It/II: The Joyful Workings of America's First Youth Orchestra, The Portland Youth Philharmonic 1923–1979. The Portland Junior Symphony Association. LCC ML200.8.P82 J8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Avshalomov, Jacob (1991). The Concerts Reviewed: 65 Years of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-28-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Russell, Ronald (1938). A New West to Explore. Norwood, Massachusetts: Plimpton Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Specific

1. ^ Flores, Trudy; Griffith, Sarah (2002). "Portland Junior Symphony, 1927". Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
2. ^ McQuillen, James. "Portland Youth Philharmonic". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
3. ^ "Portland Youth Philharmonic visits". The Observer. LaGrande, Oregon. October 2, 2008. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
4. ^ Tucker, Kathy. "Sage Brush Symphony". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
5. Bash, James (November 2, 2009). "Portland Youth Philharmonic's David Hattner: Demanding, tough to please... and the kids are loving it". Oregon Music News. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
6. "Sagebrush Symphony: About the Program". Oregon Public Broadcasting. 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
7. Russell 1938, p. 40
8. Russell 1938, p. 41
9. ^ Russell 1938, p. 42
10. ^ Russell 1938, p. 18
11. Russell 1938, p. 27
12. ^ Cullivan, Rob (August 7, 2007). "East County musicians travel with youth orchestra to Taiwan and Korea". The Outlook. Gresham, Oregon: Pamplin Media Group. pp. 1–2. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
13. ^ Bartels, Eric (June 26, 2007). "Departing conductor is a rising star". Portland Tribune. Pamplin Media Group. pp. 1–2. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
14. Hughley, Marty (April 14, 2010). "Portland Youth Philharmonic's Diane Syrcle to move to Oregon Ballet Theatre as new executive director". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
15. ^ "Portland Youth Philharmonic Wins 'Excellence in Music Education' Award". Oregon Symphony. April 15, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
16. Avshalomov 1979, p. 7, 13 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFAvshalomov1979 (help)
17. ^ "Mary's Method". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
18. Russell 1938, p. 24
19. ^ Russell 1938, p. 25

External links

• Portland Youth Philharmonic
• Portland Youth Philharmonic at allmusic
• "Sagebrush Symphony" – Oregon Experience, Oregon Public Broadcasting