About YOCVa
Three orchestras, chamber music, and drum club. For 40 years the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia (YOCVA) has provided a full-season symphony orchestra experience for elementary, middle, and high school students living in central Virginia. Public, private, and homeschool students travel from seven surrounding counties to participate in our annual programs.
Students participate in weekly rehearsals and perform concerts and recitals throughout the academic year.
Programs
Youth Symphony
Rehearses Monday from 6:15pm-8:30pm at Martin Luther King Performing Arts Center. Youth Symphony is our advanced full-symphony orchestra founded in 1978. The ensemble consists of approximately 50-60 advanced youth musicians performing original orchestral masterworks. Audition required.
Instructors:
Foster Beyers, confductor
James Tobin, Assistant Conductor
Annual Tuition Fee: $575.
Click HERE for more information.
Evans Orchestra
Rehearses Monday from 6:30pm-8:00pm at Charlottesville High School. Evans is our intermediate full-symphony orchestra founded in 1978. The ensemble consists of approximately 50-60 middle and high school musicians performing original and adapted orchestral masterworks. Audition required.
Instructors:
Alicia Tobin, Conductor
Michael Allen, Assistant Conductor
Annual Tuition Fee: $550
Click HERE for more information.
Junior Strings
Rehearses Mondays from 6:15- 7:30pm at Charlottesville High School. Serves as YOCVA’s preparatory string orchestra. It develops beginning strings players and prepares them for future membership in the Evans Orchestra and Youth Symphony. No audition required.
Instructors:
Emily Thomas Waters, Director
Annual Tuition Fee: $425.
Click HERE for more information.
Chamber Music
Rehearses Tuesday from 6:15pm-8:00pm at Walker Elementary School. Students join a small ensemble and work weekly with a coach to prepare music for a Winter and Spring recital.
Instructors:
Megan Gray, Lead Coach & Coordinator
Elizabeth Brightbill, Coach Core
Hayley Rose, Coach Core
Michael Allen Pearce, Coach Core
Annual Tuition Fee: $575.
Click HERE for more information.
Drum Club at ACC
Drum Club is YOCVa’s outreach partnership with the Albemarle Campus Boys & Girls Club. Our instructors lead classes for all ages that focus on musicianship, mindfulness and movement. Free classes are offered to club members weekly for the duration of the academic year and summer.
Click HERE to learn more.
Mission
Any committed musician with the requisite talent and training, regardless of their academic environment or economic condition, should have the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential. Our organization believes that with diversity we not only enrich the arts experience but also broaden personal development of our youth and quality of life in our community. We offer the highest level of professional artistic leadership to students and should provide an experience where there is no barrier to talent.
History
For 40 years the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia (YOCVA) has provided a full-season symphony orchestra experience for youth living in central Virginia. We currently serve elementary, middle and high school youth in seven Virginia counties. YOCVA comprises two full symphony orchestras, flute and clarinet ensembles, and a junior strings program. Our talent development spans elementary through high school, where, as a Youth Symphony member, students perform original masterworks. The competition is keen for the audition-only membership in the two orchestras, and the training is rigorous with full season weekly rehearsals and three concerts per year. Reaching musicians from diverse backgrounds and academic settings, YOCVA brings young artists together in a mutual, musical learning environment which enriches the arts in our community. Founded as an outreach organization of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, today we complement public school programs reinforcing student development. YOCVA students frequently claim the highest honors in District, Regional, and State competitions. YOCVA also offers an avenue to private and home-schooled children who do not have access to other programs.
