By Oregon Coast TODAY
Six Oregon high school string orchestras will perform two concerts at Newport Middle School on Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, as part of the Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival.
Both concerts begin at 7 p.m. at Newport Middle School, 825 N.E. Seventh St. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. For more information, go to www.youthsymphonyfestival.org.
The high schools participating in the 2025 festival are South Eugene, Grants Pass, Klamath Union, Newberg, McNary and Pendleton and are joined by special guest — the Drake University string ensemble of Des Moines, Iowa.
Students from the Newport Youth Symphony of the Oregon Coast have also participated in the activities.
The festival’s opening concert Friday features the Grants Pass, Newberg and South Eugene orchestras followed by the Drake University ensemble. Saturday’s concert features performances by the Pendleton, Klamath Union and McNary orchestras.
Saturday’s concert concludes with all 140 students from the six high school orchestras coming together to perform two pieces, “Perseus” by Soon Hee Newbold and the first movement of Ernest Bloch’s “Concerto Grosso.”
The festival’s lead clinician is Adam Flatt, music director of the Newport Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet and the University of Alabama Symphony. Special guest clinician is Mark Laycock, professor of music and orchestras at Wichita State University.
The Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival organization conducts two other major events each year in addition to the annual four-day festival — a chamber music concert series and a composers’ symposium series. One of the primary purposes of the activities is to bring students together to play music without putting any kind of financial barriers or obstacles in their way. Schools participate at no cost.
The chamber concert series features high school quartets and professional quartets playing side by side. It provides an opportunity for talented high school students to perform in front of a live audience in a real concert hall outside of their hometown.
The composers’ symposium is a unique opportunity for high school students to submit an original composition, receive instruction from professional composers and have it performed.
The festival’s activities are endorsed by all seven major Oregon orchestras: the Oregon Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Oregon East Symphony, Rogue Valley Symphony, Corvallis-OSU Symphony, Central Oregon Symphony and the Newport Symphony.
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