The Sound Of Music
09/16/2024 02:12PM ● By WENDIE PECHARSKY
“All of this is possible,” says Mark Alpizar, VYOA’s musical director for the past four years, “because we have acquired the Elley-Long Music Center, and that is what makes it all come together. The fact that we have this wonderful home is what got us through the pandemic and has given us the ability to have a lesson program.”
The cello section of Vermont Youth Orchestra rehearses at Flynn.
The Elley-Long Music Center, once a riding hall used by the Black cavalry troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers for horse training after the Civil War, has been retrofitted into classrooms and a performance space. “It’s quite large,” Mark says. “The soldiers would use it for parties, get-togethers, and sometimes musical performances. So, the legacy is that it’s been retrofitted to do the same thing that it once did.”
SPACE FOR LEARNING AND PERFORMING
The Center, located on the campus of Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, has a performance hall in the back of the building that can seat about 350. “The stage is particularly wonderful,” Mark says. “Everyone raves about the acoustics. And that is where our Vermont Youth Philharmonia and our Vermont Youth Strings have their second-semester performance in April.”
Mark works side by side with Rosina Cannizzaro, the executive director of VYOA, who has overseen all aspects of the organization since 2012. In that time, Rosina says VYOA has undergone a great deal of expansion. “We started a lesson program about five or six years ago with just strings, and last year, we expanded it to include all woodwinds, brass, and percussion. We have thirteen studios now within our lesson program,” she says. “What’s really wonderful is that it makes private lessons affordable for students. Over half of our students are receiving some sort of financial aid to take private lessons.”
PARTNERING WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS
VYOA also launched its after-school partnership program, Music Inspires, in 2012. “We have been providing free after-school group violin classes in Winooski since then,” Rosina says. “[Winooski was] our first partner, and over the years, we’ve done other after-school programs in Newport and Bakersfield, not just for strings but for woodwinds and brass as well.” Says Mark, “When the Vermont Youth Orchestra launched [in 1964], the original mission statement included a lot about partnering with public schools and being a way to enhance what’s already going on in Vermont. I try to cultivate in each of our students and each of our musicians the ability to take what they learn in VYO and bring it back to their school programs and enhance them because I think VYO only really works in partnership with the school programs. They send us so many musicians, and we, in turn, cultivate them and help them grow, and we all benefit from it. Even the public benefits from it. Everyone who comes to our concerts can hear that. We have a nationally reputable orchestra here in rural Vermont.”
Vermont Youth Orchestra senior soloist Avery Cochran performs "Suite Antique" by John Rutter.
MUSIC EDUCATION FOR ALL
But middle and high school students are not the only ones to benefit from VYOA’s mission. Rosina says, “We have an early childhood department now where we’re offering Music Together classes, and our Rug Concert series for kids five and under was launched eight years ago. That’s a very interactive performance opportunity for them. We try to find an entryway for every skill level and every age.” Mark heartily agrees. “The Vermont Youth Orchestra Association is a welcoming place for children ages zero to eighteen. It’s really comprehensive, and we believe in musical excellence for everyone of all ages and abilities. Music education offers kids so many valuable skills that transfer to anything they want to do in life. I think that’s why every kid should be involved in music in some way, shape or form. It helps foster a sense of creativity. It helps create lifelong habits of study and commitment. It’s like a team sport but with an artistic element.”
LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES
“There are thirty to forty performance opportunities that come up every year,” Rosina says, “and [the students are] all keeping their eye on touring internationally, which we do every three years. That’s something they have to look forward to.” In the past decade, VYO has performed concert tours to China, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.
But in Vermont, Mark says, “I have the VYO break up into chamber groups. I have what I like to call the String Squad. Then, we have the Winds, Brass, and Percussion Ensemble, and we also have smaller groups like wind quintets and string quartets. I put them together, I teach them and coach them on the music, and then they go out into the various opera houses throughout Vermont and retirement homes and community centers and play for as many Vermonters as we possibly can each season.”
TWO PROGRAMS FOR THE STUDY OF JAZZ
One of the organization’s newest offerings is VYOA Jazz, a high school program that brings together the best players in the state and gives them an opportunity to play together outside of the All-State Festival. “It was really successful,” Mark says. “All of the students in every section play in an ensemble with a professional musician. They get mentorship from professionals from the area every single week.” In fact, the jazz program was such a success that, this year, they’re launching VYOAGrooves, a jazz program for middle schoolers. Both jazz programs are open to anyone who wants to participate. “[VYOAGrooves provides] a chance for them to really explore the fundamentals of jazz, play in an ensemble, and learn to improvise,” Mark says.
Vermont Youth Philharmonia winds and percussion musicians perform at Flynn.
NURTURING A GENERATION THAT VALUES MUSIC
Even after graduating high school, many VYO participants continue studying music in some form. “What’s always so heartwarming,” says Rosina, “is how many students really try to find a way to keep music in their lives when they go to college. And that is what I think is the success of our program, to have a group of young people who know the value of music and make time for it.”
Mark says, “The vast majority of our students do not go on to pursue music as a vocation or as a career. But that’s all the more reason why they take it so seriously now. I really feel the sense that each of them is realizing: ‘This is my opportunity to [increase my] repertoire. This is my opportunity to feel like a professional musician and get a chance to learn at a high level how to perform music and how to wear an artistic filter for the rest of my life.’”
DEDICATED STUDENTS AND FAMILIES
“It’s a tremendous commitment, not only on the part of the student musicians but also of the parents and the families,” Rosina says. “We have kids who are traveling from the Northeast Kingdom, from Plattsburgh [NY], and the Hanover [NH] area, so you know they’re making a serious commitment on Sunday to be with us. We have nothing but gratitude for their commitment and dedication to us, and, in return, they’re building friendships and a love of music,” she says. “That’s success.”
PHOTOS BY ARIELLE THOMAS
Vermont Youth Orchestra Association
Elley-Long Music Center at St. Michael’s College
223 Ethan Allen Avenue
Colchester, VT
