The Schaumburg Youth Orchestra (SYO) was founded in 1989 as a recreational and educational outlet for young advanced musicians in the Schaumburg area. Originating as a string ensemble with 16 members, the orchestra made its public debut with a concert performance at Schaumburg's 1989 Prairie Arts Festival.
Over the next two seasons, wind and brass musicians were added to the ensemble, increasing membership to 30 students. In the fall, 1991, the offshoot Schaumburg Youth String Orchestra was formed to serve as a training group for the advanced Symphony Orchestra. The program expanded further in 1996 when the String Orchestra branched into two groups: the intermediate-level Schaumburg Youth Chamber Orchestra; and the Schaumburg Youth String Ensemble, geared for beginning grade school musicians. In the spring, 2002, the orchestra program initiated a fourth ensemble to again meet the demands of growing enrollment numbers. The program has been recently restructured to facilitate a progressive graduation from one ensemble to the next and to provide playing opportunities for younger, less experienced musicians. Current registration is at 180, with members from Schaumburg and over thirty outlying communities.
The program enrolls new and returning members by audition at the beginning summer. The orchestras exist to supplement the students' curricular training, as all members are expected to participate in their school orchestra or band program. Each of the orchestras performs two concerts annually at the Prairie Center for the Arts. In addition to these performances, the ensembles have played for the public throughout the community. The Schaumburg Youth Symphony Orchestra also presents its annual Presto! Holiday Concert featuring classical and contemporary seasonal works. The Symphony Orchestra has performed not only locally, but also abroad with concert tours of Germany, Austria, Prague and Budapest, Japan, and Italy.
The Symphony Orchestra has recorded three compact discs: Birth of a Millennium, which was distributed in 2000 to newborn infants at area hospitals as part of the Village of Schaumburg's millennium celebration; Songs of Good Cheer, a collection of classical and popular holiday music released in 2002; and Prairie Music, featuring works by American composers.
The SYO also hosts the annual Chamber Live! series, featuring small ensembles videotaped live and broadcast on Schaumburg's local cable channel. Chamber Live! has earned two national awards, including first place in the Performing Arts Category of the 1999 Hometown Video Festival, sponsored by the Alliance for Community Media, and second place in the Performing Arts Category in the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) 1999 Programming Awards. The Schaumburg Youth Orchestra was also cited with an Honorable Mention at the 1998 U.S. Conference of Mayor's Livability Awards Program and has received the 2001 and 2008 Youth Orchestra of the Year award by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
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