2024-2025 Schedule

 

2024


13 rehearsals for ES and JS, 14 rehearsals for YS, 1 sectional, ES & JS Tours, Winter Concert


 

SEPTEMBER
September  9*,16,23,30


OCTOBER

October 7*, 14, 21,28


NOVEMBER

November 4*, 18, 25


DECEMBER

December: 2*, 9, 16 (YS only)


Wednesday  December 11  - JS Tour


Thursday December 12  *Snow Date: December 13)– ES Tour


TBD –Holiday Lighting Celebration and Performance – ES Tour


ES Winter Sectionals: Sunday, November 17, 1 -4 pm

JS Winter Sectionals: Sunday, November 17, 1 - 3:45pm
YS Winter Sectionals: Sunday, October 27, 4 - 7pm


PLEASE NOTE:  only YS will be rehearsing on 12/16


Sunday, December 15, 2024 Winter Concert
ES: 2:00 pm, JS 3:00 pm, YS 4:15 pm
Hankin Academic Arts Auditorium, WCC


 

2025


13 rehearsals, 1 sectional, ES & JS Tours, YS Lewis Lionti Concert, Spring Gala Concert

 

JANUARY

January  6*, 13, 27


FEBRUARY
Feb 3*, 10, 24 

Monday, February 3, 2025 Lewis-Lionti Concert


MARCH

March 3*, 10, 17, 24

TBD  ES sectionals 

March 3 – 4pm - 7pm YS sectionals


APRIL

April 7*, 21, 28, 

ES Sectionals: TBD
JS Sectionals: TBD
YS Sectionals: 3/2 4 pm  -7 pm

MAY

May 1 – JS Tour

May 2 – ES Spring Bus Tour

Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 1 pmSpring Gala, Lincoln Center

 

AUDITIONS for 2025-2026 Season:

TBD May 2025

 

Committee Meetings last Monday of month.

Last Board meeting May 12*

 (*) GWYOA Board meetings

Announcements


GWYOA extends our warmest thanks to all who participated in the successful spring auditions. As you enjoy your summer filled with music, remember to secure your place in the 2024-2025 season by registering before August 1. Waitlisted musicians will be notified of any openings after this date. Tuition for the upcoming season is due on August 10. Click here.  We eagerly anticipate a remarkable 2024-2025 season, and look forward to creating beautiful music together.

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Welcome to the 2024-2025 Season

Please see Member Info for arrival and rehearsal times, plus related info.

Parent/Guardian Info for additional detailed information

Rehearsals and the Winter Concert are held at Westchester Community College's Academic Arts Building near parking lot #4.  

About the GWYOA

The Greater Westchester Youth Orchestras Association
is dedicated to the development of young people’s
musicianship through rehearsing and performing together.

The GWYOA is a not-for-profit organization providing excellent grounding in cooperation, helping young people to develop self- esteem, and promoting harmony in our ethnically diverse community through classical music training. Founded in 1953, the GWYOA consists of three orchestras made up of students in grades four through twelve from Westchester County, NY, and from the surrounding counties in the Tri-State area, working in cooperation with the Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY. All three of the orchestras perform Winter and Spring Concerts each year. 

History of the GWYOA

Mr. Harry Alshin, a string teacher in the Scarsdale school system, sowed the seeds for a Westchester-based youth orchestra in 1955. He first organized and conducted a countywide group of junior high-school students, preparing the young participants for the challenges of playing in a youth orchestra. Two years later, the original orchestra was established. The modern-day GWYOA is comprised of three groups: Elementary Strings (grades four through six), Junior Strings (grades seven through nine), and the Youth Symphony (for high-school musicians).

 

Maestro Alshin remained with Junior Strings until he retired in the 1980s. Dale Lewis was the next conductor, and was followed by Vincent Lionti in 1990. 

 

Elementary Strings was organized in 1983 and was first conducted by Jacqueline Stern. She moved on to lead the Junior Strings in 1996 (where she remains today) when Bernard Klinger joined GWYOA as the new (and current) conductor of the Elementary Strings.

 

The Youth Symphony has had only five conductors since its inception. Victor Lionti, who took over the baton in 1970 and maintained it for 25 years, holds the longest tenure. His son, Vincent Lionti, who played viola with the GWYOA from the age of 12 through high school, followed in his father’s footsteps and began leading the Youth Symphony in 1996. Vincent guided the Youth Symphony with passion for the next 24 years, but tragically passed away on April 3, 2020, from COVID-related illness. Following the incomprehensible loss of Vincent, the board of GWYOA appointed Kathleen Coletta Feldman to the position of interim conductor, and on November 3, 2021, made that appointment permanent.

 

During the early years, GWYOA was sponsored by Westchester County and rehearsals were held in the basement of the County Center. There was also a six-week sleep-away summer camp co-sponsored by the GWYOA and the county at Croton Point. For many years after that, GWYOA worked in cooperation with the Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY, where weekly rehearsals and certain performances were held. While adapting to the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, GWYOA has been working in cooperation with the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, White Plains High School, and St. Gregory the Enlightener Armenian Church for rehearsals and performances.

Performance Venues

The GWYOA orchestras perform in a wide range of venues. In the past they have been honored to perform at:

Various local nursing homes, elementary and middle schools.