VYO and VYP started their 2016-17 season last week with a spectacular Reveille! music camp. The five-day camp flew by in a wink of an eye and was filled with fun and inspiring rehearsals and activities each day. The VYO, under Interim Conductor Dr. Edward Cumming, filled the Elley-Long Music Center with beautiful rehearsals of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 and Sibelius’s Finlandia. VYP, under their conductor Dr. Yutaka Kono, gave a powerful start to their first rehearsals with The Tempest by Robert Smith, music from Indiana Jones by John Williams, along with arrangements of Jupiter by Holst and Overture to Rienzi by Wagner. By Tuesday afternoon, the impressive progress of both orchestras inspired the plan for a short end-of-camp concert for the parents. This concert included a rousing VYO/VYP side-by-side performance of Bizet’s Farandole from L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2. The orchestras received this piece only on Thursday for their Friday performance! The concert also included VYO playing Finlandia and VYP performing The Tempest.
Many thanks go to our dedicated Camp Life Staff, led by Andrew Riegler, for providing activities that helped the students bond as friends and musicians. There were many activities that called upon groups of students to create solutions to fun problems. Other activities got the heart rates up, such as kickball, dancing, and soccer. Wednesday afternoon was unforgettable with an outing to Skateland. Roller skates, bumper cars, bouncy houses, and go-karts kept all of us, staff included, greatly entertained. Congratulations to VYO and VYP for such great spirit and a fantastic beginning to the season!
By Art DeQuasie, Director of Operations
