<p>Our search for liberal arts schools with good orchestra programs for non-conservatory student musicians has led in the direction of youth orchestras and community orchestras that include local college student players. We'd welcome comments and additions to the list so far, which includes:
New York Youth Symphony (Columbia, Barnard, NYU, Queens College, Brooklyn College)
Pittsburgh Youth Symphony (Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Youngstown State, West Virginia University and University of Pittsburgh.)
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
Berkshire Symphony (Williams)
American Youth Symphony (USC Thornton School of Music, Colburn School, UCLA)
Boulder Youth Symphony (University of Colorado,University of Denver)</p>
<p>For San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, the local universities are UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Davis (a bit of a trip, but not out of the question). You could also list Holy Names in Oakland, Mills College in Oakland, and San Francisco State University.</p>
<p>Portland Youth Philharmonic also includes college youth. I don't have a complete list of local colleges, but there are several in the Portland, Oregon area.</p>
<p>This is a listing of CT community bands, orchestras, symphonies, and ensembles. I found it a few years back and it lists many fine groups, some of extremely high quality. For anyone interested in a specific group, feel free to PM me, and I'll provide as much detail as I can. Some I've heard, some I know by reputation, my son has played or subbed in a few as well.</p>
<p>This is the second year our son has played with the NY Youth Symphony.
He commutes in for the Sunday rehearsals and performances from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in NJ. There are two others at his school that he goes in with. They seem to love it.
The age of the students is 12-22 but many conservatory students in NYC participate.</p>
<p>My S has played with the Peninsula Symphony, which is on the SF peninsula and is comprised of professional musicians and community musicians. There is also the Silicon Valley Symphony, the Foothill Wind Ensemble, the Palo Alto Philharmonic, the Palo Alto Pops, the Nova Vista Symphony, the Fremont Symphony, the Redwood Symphony...I'm probably missing at least a dozen more and about a million chamber and wind groups. You want to play, you can play! I think most of the areas youth symphonies are starting to extend the age limit as well. There are a LOT of musicians here and limitless opportunities to play.</p>
<p>The Baroque</a> Orchestra Of New Jersey has had members from age 14-80. They specifically look for up-and-coming young performers to feature as soloists and to put into leadership roles within the group. They started out humbly as the Baroque Orchestra of Boonton and have continued to improve over the last decade or so. Their repertoire has branched out well beyond the Baroque, so don't let the name make you think of them as only for the early music viola da gamba and sackbut crowd.</p>