Check out part of the December 12, 2009 RSYO performance at Ellis Arts Academy! Conductor Daniel Black directs the orchestra’s performance of the Overture from Guiseppe Verdi’s La Forza del Destino.
Becoming a Member
Experience Great Music!
“RSYO has been an awesome opportunity for me and my only regret is that I didn’t join sooner!” Ellie Dorsey, clarinet, class of 2009
If you enjoy making great music and great friends, consider RSYO! RSYO members rehearse and perform as an orchestra and have the opportunity to participate in one of four ensembles. NEW in 2010/11 – RSYO members may audition to play in a side-by-side performance with the RSO in the Coronado Theatre.
Membership in the RSYO is based on auditions. Click Here for further information. Young musicians up to 21 years of age are welcome to audition.
Tuition is $175 per semester and financial is available to students who commit to the orchestra for both semesters and are able to articulate both their interest and financial need. Click here to download the Financial Aid application.
Please enjoy the photo gallery from the 2009 Spring Concert.
2009-10 RSYO Brass Choir
the RSYO Brass Choir performing holiday favorites at CherryVale Mall on December 1, 2009
Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra Overview
The Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra (RSYO) has provided quality orchestral training for young people in the region for over four decades. Founded in 1965 by Donald Zimmerman, RSYO continues its affiliation with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra as its parent organization. Members of the RSO have led RSYO musicians as conductors and served as sectional coaches for the past fifteen years. Michael Beert who led RSYO from 1991-2001 plays cello in the RSO, and his predecessor Hsien-Liang Lien also served as a cello section musician with the RSO until his return to his native Taiwan in 2004. Most recently Alison Gaines conducted the orchestra for five seasons (2004-2009) while also serving as principal bass for the RSO.
Jack Simon, a Rockford musician active in a wide number of musical activities in the region and former RSYO conductor from 1979-1983, recently stated that the youth symphony experience gave him the special chance to work with a number of very talented students. “The Youth Symphony gave students an opportunity to learn and perform music they would possibly not have had a chance to experience,” commented Mr. Simon, “ RSYO played an important role in supplementing the music experience students received in their high school band and orchestra programs.”
RSYO is comprised of students from all across Northern Illinois, including Belvidere, Rochelle, Dixon, Pecatonica, Freeport and Rockford, who have a love of classical music and a desire to improve their skills while performing as an ensemble. Auditions are held annually in late spring for the next concert season. Rehearsals are held on Sunday afternoons from 2:00-4:30 p.m.
The program is a challenging and fun music education experience for approximately sixty high school students who make up the orchestra. RSYO rehearses weekly and performs for the public throughout the year. Tuition varies with each concert cycle. There are some scholarships available. For additional information call 815.972.2939.
Daniel Black
Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra Conductor
Daniel Black is a conductor and composer with a strong connection to the rich Russian conducting tradition of the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Conservatory. He has had notable recent success in international competitions, both as a conductor and composer. He advanced to the second round of the Antonio Pedrotti International Conducting Competition in September 2008, finishing ninth overall from a field of forty competitors. A review of his performance in the competition noted, “[Daniel] is one of the few competitors to combine a lot of power with an economy of movement in his conducting technique.” (G.P. – Sept. 29, 2008) in April 2008, he was a finalist and diploma winner of the International Prokofiev Composition Contest, the only American to pass into the final round of the competition. His Concertino for horn and orchestra was premiered in St. Petersburg as part of the competition.
He has appeared as a guest conductor with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Symphony “Classica,” and also with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He was the founding music director of the NEO Chamber Orchestra, formed under the auspices of the Eastman School of Music. While at Eastman, he was the recipient of a conducting assistantship and a Professional Development grant.
His compositions have been performed in Russia and across the United States in California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Georgia, Tennessee and Wisconsin and have won several additional awards, including a competition for performance with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Two of his works have bee published. He has received commissions fro violinist Jo Nardolillo, hornist Lin Foulk, and the Wisconsin Alliance of Composers, among others.
Mr. Black is currently working toward a Doctorate in orchestral conducting on a full scholarship at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, under the tutelage of Victor Yampolsky. He also studies composition privately with internationally,-renown composer Richard Danielpour.
A fluent speaker of Russian, he earned an Artists Diploma in symphonic/operatic conducting from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he worked with Leonid Korchmar. Prior to this he complete his Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Eastman, studying with Neil Varon. His Bachelor’s degree in composition is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his primary teachers were Stephen Dembski, Joel Naumann (composition) and David Becker (conducting). Mr. Black has studied conducting as a full participant of master-classes with Marin Alsop, Daniel Lewis, Gunther Schuller, Adrian Gnam, and others.
