Vienna-Prague Tour News!

Written by Michelle Hoffman | 14 June 2012

MYSO Senior Symphony  

Receives International Acclaim

MYSO's flagship orchestra, the Senior Symphony, will perform tonight (Tuesday) in the sold-out Gala Winners' Concert, the culminating event of the prestigious Summa Cum Laude International Youth Festival and Competition in Vienna, Austria. The event will be held at the Wien Konzerthaus, home of the Vienna Symphony.

This year's competition included 34 ensembles from 19 countries on all continents, chosen via audition. MYSO was the only American orchestra invited to compete before the internationally renowned jury, which awarded it second place "with outstanding success" in the symphony orchestra category. The Senior Symphony performed under the batons of Margery Deutsch, Music Director, and Shelby Keith Dixon, Associate Conductor.

Parents, friends, and supporters will be at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut Street, on Wednesday evening to celebrate the ensemble's homecoming. The first of the two waves of returning students is scheduled to arrive at MYAC about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, following flights from Vienna and New York and bus from Chicago's O'Hare airport. The 107 touring MYSO musicians---among the most talented musicians in Southeastern Wisconsin---left on July 2 for a major performance and cultural tour. Their first stop was Prague, where they gave a concert at the famed Dvorak Hall in the Rudolfinum, where they received a lengthy standing ovation.  

They also performed outdoor concerts in Pöttsching and in the spa town of Bad Tatzmannsdorf after Sunday's SCL competition, which was held in the famed Musikverein in Vienna. The MYSO tour was sponsored by Badger Meter and the Austria-based Med-El.

Now in its 6th year, the SCL Festival is presented under the patronage of the Austrian Commission for UNESCO. Its goal: to create an environment where young musicians from all over the world can interact on an international level and build bridges among themselves.

MYSO Senior Symphony

Summa Cum Laude Competition  

in the Musikverein, Vienna, Austria

I know how proud we ALL are of these extraordinary young musicians!  Our deepest thanks, of course, to Ms. Deutsch and Mr. Dixon for helping to create this musical memory of a lifetime!  And, of course, a HUGE debt of gratitude to the chaperones and staff traveling with the group, and the MYSO Board of Directors, who have worked very hard to make it all possible! 

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Ricardo Anderson II named winner of first Tony Lucas Scholarship Award

Written by Sarah Christie | 07 June 2012

For eight years, Tony Lucas has driven from his full time job at TMJ4 to work with MYSO Progressions students twice per week.  That is nearly 1200 hours of time he has given to MYSO!  Progressions is an intensive, high-impact string training program for students in the City of Milwaukee.  A two year commitment, students attend lessons, master class, and orchestra three days per week during the school year.  This year, MYSO has found a way to honor Mr. Lucas and his level of commitment to mentoring young children through music. 

On May 31, the first annual Tony Lucas Scholarship Award was presented to one special Progressions students advancing into String Orchestra.  Students eligible for this scholarship were in their second year of Progressions, successfully auditioned into String Orchestra for 2012-13, and worked very hard through their two years in the program.  The award went to Ricardo Anderson II, a fourth grade cellist studying with Ravenna Helson.  Ricardo will receive paid MYSO tuition for the next season, lessons for one year and will be provided an instrument.  Over his two years of Progressions, Ricardo made a great impression with his intense work ethic and commitment to his instrument.  He consistently had great attendance, practiced nearly every day and had great parental support to help get him through this time-intensive program.  Ricardo showed exemplary commitment and musicianship,and  will be one of many success stories of the MYSO Progressions program.

Pictured with Ricardo and Mr. Lucas are Ricardo's very proud cello teacher Ravenna Helson and his extremely proud mom Stephanie Anderson.

After 24 years of exceptional and "instrumental" leadership MYSO's longtime executive director Fran Richman to retire

Written by Michelle Hoffman | 15 May 2012

MYSO will soon embark on a new era of leadership. Board President Susan Graham Wernecke and President-elect Patrick Rath announce that Frances Richman will retire as executive director of the organization as of December 31, 2012. She will continue to work with MYSO in the future, in a consulting capacity.

Wernecke notes: "MYSO has been extremely fortunate to have benefited from Fran's leadership for more than two decades. Fran has created a strong platform for MYSO's future success. We are very grateful for all she has done for MYSO."

During Fran's tenure...

• MYSO has risen to the top of the youth orchestra world and today is considered the largest and one of the artistically finest youth music organizations of its kind in the United States; MYSO was a 2011 finalist--and is currently a 2012 finalist--for the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards;
• MYSO has more than doubled its enrollment, from 400 students to more than 900;
• The organization has seen the number of its youth performing groups grow from four to twelve;
• MYSO increased its annual budget from less than $200,000 to more than $1.2 million
• As part of a collaborative initiative with First Stage, MYSO successfully completed a $15 million capital campaign to build a state-of-the-art youth performing arts facility--the first of its kind in the U.S.--the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, which opened in 2005;
• MYSO established an extensive and nationally recognized Community Partnership Program, providing low- and no-cost programming to young people with financial need, many who live in the central city and attend Milwaukee Public Schools. These programs were launched not only to bring diversity to MYSO's membership and audiences, but also to ensure that all young people, regardless of their financial circumstances, have an opportunity to grow as a result of the numerous, well-documented benefits of music education;
• MYSO has become known for its sound fiscal management. MYSO has won the 2007 and 2008 UPAF Chase Finance Awards and the 2007 and 2008 Northwestern Mutual Management Excellence Awards;
• The organization has seen its endowment and reserves rise from $200,000 to more than $5 million;
• MYSO Received the United Performing Arts Fund 2010 Education and Outreach Award as well as the 2008 Wisconsin Governor's Award in Support of the Arts and the first Sharon Lynn Wilson Center Arts Education Award in 2005.
• MYSO is nearing completion of its fundraising campaign for "Fran's Fund," a $2 million scholarship initiative which provides scholarship funds for private lessons, instruments, MYSO tuition, summer programs and transportation costs to students in MYSO's free or heavily subsidized Community Partnership Programs who successfully transition upward into MYSO's audition-based programs.

Carter Simmons, MYSO's Artistic Director, attests to Fran's prominent role in the organization's tremendous success. "I have been incredibly fortunate to work with Fran, learning a lifetime of lessons from her. Fran is a visionary and powerful champion for young people, for MYSO and for the Milwaukee community. Her leadership has enabled MYSO to become a very strong arts institution and an incredibly powerful model for those who want to provide opportunities for young people. She cares deeply for people...and has set a standard for each of us to follow at MYSO. Everyone who is touched by MYSO has benefitted from her stewardship of resources and her ability to bring people together for noble causes. Her work here has created a foundation and vision that will drive MYSO's mission for decades; her work has truly been 'Instrumental in Changing Lives.' It's an honor to be her friend and colleague."

"Fran is considered one of the finest arts administrators in our community and nationally," remarks President-Elect Patrick Rath. Now considered a national leader in the youth orchestra community, Fran took the reins of MYSO (then "Music For Youth") in 1988, becoming the organization's first full-time managing director following a national search.

When asked to discuss her years with MYSO, Fran replied, "What stands out in my tenure here? First, the kids--as a non-musician myself, I am proud that MYSO has become the largest youth orchestra program in the country, offering top quality music training to more and more kids, including a rapidly growing contingent from underserved populations. Perhaps the most exciting 'event' during my 24 years has been the creation of the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. It was not a very well understood concept when we started, but a terrific team of visionaries and workers and fundraisers made it come to life. As a result, about a thousand kids a week have this fabulous, cutting-edge facility in which to indulge their love for the arts--and where the arts can transform their lives and help them become our future creative class. MYAC has opened up a stunningly wide variety of educational programming opportunities which were simply not available before. I'm proud to have been a part of that!"

MYSO's Board of Directors is forming a search committee to search for a new executive director.

53 Hours of MYSO by Sabrina Raber

24 February 2012

Three community engagement days of two concerts per day, rehearsal for Senior Symphony, a rehearsal for a MYSO issued woodwind quintet, seven dress rehearsals, two lessons, four MYSO concerts in a weekend, and a performance for my church's youth orchestra, all in one week. Added up, each minute of those concerts, rehearsals, lessons, as well as transportation to it, adds up to around 53 hours of music. Looking back at that one week, I understand why everyone thought I was crazy. To my surprise, being in five MYSO groups isn't normal, and 53 hours of music in a week, not counting practice time, is even less so. Naturally there were slight problems I had to deal with in order to survive such a week. The biggest problem of it all was not the stress I had to go through or the amount of schoolwork I now need to make up, but was returning to reality after one of the best weeks of my life.

It all began Monday. Between 4:00 PM-9:00 PM, I had been to four rehearsals and was grinning from ear to ear, completely and utterly slap-happy from the many musical jokes and games that occur in rehearsal. Tuesday arrived with Chamber Flute Ensemble Community Engagement Concerts and near flawless performances. Wednesday was hard to digest as I had to pull myself away from the musical world that is MYSO and sit in my school desk of reality. The entire day I found myself yearning to sit in the familiar black chairs and hold up my flute for another two hours. Once my rehearsal for Chamber Orchestra passed, I was in a car once more, this time on my way to my Woodwind Quintet rehearsal. Thursday was my Chamber Orchestra Engagement Concert, and with it came two more great performances. Once the concerts completed, I found myself chilling in MYAC for the third time that week, listening to more music and masterfully dodging my homework. A Sinfonia dress rehearsal (for which I had composed a piece) and flute lesson later and I started wishing it was possible to rent a room at MYAC to sleep in so I could save a little gas. Friday was my favorite day in the music filled, MYSO party week. Sinfonia had its outreach concert and despite the fact that I wasn't playing, I was more nervous than any of my other concerts. Sinfonia was premiering my piece, Proelio Morum, and I was hopeful that the audience would like hearing it as much as I liked writing it. My worries were quashed easily, and Sinfonia played it as beautifully as I could have ever wished. From those concerts, I went to a Chamber Flute Ensemble dress rehearsal at Shattuck Auditorium, and from that, after a brief moment of lying mentally dead on the floor and recharging my musical batteries, I sat in a dress rehearsal for Chamber Orchestra. Even though, it was the busiest of all my days and the most draining, I was disappointed to see it end and found it hard to leave the auditorium I was starting to see as home. That night I dreamt of rehearsal. When I woke up I was disappointed once more that my rehearsal dream wasn't true. Little homework was done Saturday. It wasn't particularly strange that I was so happy with all the music I was doing; MYSO rehearsals are the highlight of my week, but it bothered me that I had so much trouble adjusting to "real life" and school after only one week of music. Saturday ran smoothly with our first Chamber Orchestra concert. As Sunday came around, after another rehearsal dream, I felt excited, but also saddened as I knew all my hard work and fun was coming to an end. That morning, I had a brief stint as temporary conductor for my church’s youth orchestra, my first concert of the day. Once I arrived at Shattuck, the nerves started to settle in. I was about to participate in the culmination of my “MYSO Week.” The first concert went smoothly, Sinfonia exceeded all my expectations once again and the applause that came after my piece made it all so much better. Chamber Flute Ensemble played just as well and when Chamber Orchestra filled the stage, I didn’t think it could be much better. Naturally, I was wrong. Five perfect pieces and a standing ovation later, I found myself holding back tears of happiness as well as the creeping dread of it all coming to an end. Playing the Overture to “The Magic Flute” was the perfect Finale to a perfect week. That very piece was the beginning of my love for music. As a seven year old, taken with Fantasia, I listened to “The Magic Flute” for hours and drew pictures of what the music showed me in my head. It’s funny that now I do the opposite: I write music for the pictures I see.

This week may have been busy, but I realize it has helped me see that music is what I truly love in my life. There’s something about being in that hall, the smell of the wood floors and dusty carpets, sitting next to people, both musicians and conductors, who think the same as you, act the same as you, have the same desires as you, people who you have only known for a couple months but feel like a closer family then the people you’ve known your whole life that gives me chills. Being able to create a masterpiece, a creation of majesty and wonder by only looking at black blobs on a piece of lined paper causes my heart to soar, butterflies to fill my stomach and a grin to spread across my face, regardless of anything else I had experienced that day. I could be in tears, completely destroyed, but the moment I set foot into that building, my world is beautiful again. 53 hours of MYSO has helped me see that. Honestly, 53 hours later and I have no regrets, excepting maybe starting my homework so late. 53 hours later and I'm sad it's all over. I’ve discovered my passion, what really makes me happy. 53 hours later and I now know where I belong. 53 hours later I’ve found home.

Flutist Sabrina Raber is a junior at Whitefish Bay High School and is a member of three MYSO groups including MYSO’s Senior Symphony with which she will embark on a concert tour of Vienna and Prague this summer. In addition, she is a student composer as part of MYSO’s John Downey Creation Project, a collaboration with Present Music, and experienced the world premiere her composition Proelio Morumlast weekend.