VYOA Blog

Just as the week I spent at Elley-Long sped by, so has the week since my first rehearsal last Sunday with the VYO and second with the Sinfonia. As I write this, I’m waiting at the JetBlue terminal at JFK with some unexpected downtime as the late night Burlington flight is delayed. I’d been hoping to get my first blog post up much sooner, but there’s been a tremendous amount of other writing to do as we leap into the final third of the season and start planning for 2011-12 in earnest. The week of February 5-13 was a whirlwind of activity (and thundersnow!) from the start; I was able to meet with each of the wonderful artist-teachers we have on our artistic staff and work closely with our amazing administrative staff. I had the chance to say hello to just about every one of our students at rehearsals during the week and did one-on-one coachings with four VYO seniors who are in the midst of college auditions. Randy Rowland (who is already doing superb work as our interim Executive Director) and I attended our first board meeting and saw first hand the passion each of the board members has for the VYOA and its musicians.

Everything I saw and heard and every person I met during that week has made me feel blessed to have the opportunity to serve the VYOA as music director – I honestly feel that we will have the opportunity to build the VYOA into one of the best music training and performance organizations in the country, including full-time performing arts high schools and conservatory pre-college programs. Exciting times ahead!

Jeff Domoto, VYOA Music Director Designate