The TRYPO team is hard at work building a unique and engaging season for TRYPO students. Here are some of the highlights you can look forward to! Look at the highlights for your specific ensemble (or the one you’re auditioning for!), but be sure and see the organizational-wide plans for 2025-26, too!
Activities Applicable to all TRYPO Students include two “TRYPO Goes to the PSO” concerts where TRYPO students will attend a concert together at Heinz Hall performed by our very own home team, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, we are planning a Fall Panel Discussion: “If I Major in Music, will I Be Living in my Parents’ Basement Forever?” moderated by Lindsey Nova. We also plan to present a Spring Audition Masterclass.
In addition to all the performance opportunities and educational moments for students in all ensembles this year, we are excited to present a jaw-dropping showcase of all that TRYPO has to offer on Saturday, May 23, 2026 (mark your calendars now!) which will include a lobby performance by Tutti, features by Symphonette, Wind Symphony and YPO, and then ending with an “Orchestra of Hundreds!” where all large ensembles will come together to blow down the walls on Ginastera’s Malambo!
YPO has a great season being planned! We will kick off its season with Mini-Camp at Ligonier Camp and Conference Center where students will dive in on their music and getting to know each other. Periodic sectionals with TRYPO Artistic staff will give students the opportunity to dive in with experts on their instrument. Our first concert will be in December shared with Symphonette. YPO will have a standalone pops concert in February/March featuring Disney and Broadway favorites, followed by being the featured ensemble on a Heinz Hall concert in May. Repertoire will include Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony, and Viet Cuong’s Moxie for Orchestra among other pieces (subject to change after auditions!).
Students can enjoy two “TRYPO Goes to the PSO” events next year, one of which includes Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, which as stated above is on our planned repertoire list. It is quite a special experience to hear the PSO perform a work that you are preparing – we will be shocked if you aren’t playing along from your seat! We have invitations out to the Pittsburgh Symphony for a few special guests to visit us and we will keep you posted as we hear what they are able to do. Before the end of the 2025-26 season, we plan to announce the Summer 2027 international tour!
Additionally, YPO has two special opportunities that we are considering and we could use the input of current YPO students, both those who plan to stay in YPO next year as well as those who may not be in YPO this year. One is an invitation to perform on the Sounds of Summer Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in June 2026 (VERY COOL!). The other is an opportunity to collaborate with the Air Force Band and Orchestra in January/February 2026 (ALSO COOL and less expensive). 24-25 Students will be asked to weigh in!
WIND SYMPHONY is riding a momentum train right now and we’re excited for the future! The ensemble has advanced enough that it needs to move to a full length rehearsal and will now meet from 10am-12:30pm on Saturdays. There will be two Sunday Open House rehearsals in the Fall so that we can hit the ground running right after marching band season ends, starting with a full-day retreat on a Sunday in October or November. Based on the success of our trip to Baldwin Wallace and subsequent student survey to those who attended and those who did not, it was clear there is a lot of interest in this type of trip moving forward and we are here for it!
We are pleased to announce that we are in discussions with Penn State and a few other universities to plan a three-to-four day trip where college campus visits meet TRYPO-immersion experiences meets band-world inspiration. [New this year on the trip will be the first annual Wind Symphony Foodie Award where the trip will include taste testing of college eats and pick our favorite.]
One of the repertoire highlights we are considering in the 25-26 season includes Benjamin R. Barker’s Bamboo Shoots and City Streets, which Baldwin Wallace wowed us with on our trip to Cleveland during 2024-25. Our guest conductor for the 2025-26 season will be Len Lavelle from North Hills High School.
PERCUSSION INSTITUTE creates opportunities from percussionists of all levels to learn and grow under the direction of Eliseo Rael.
- PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE (PE) intermediate to advanced percussionists: Percussionists will have 20 coaching hours in a unique schedule designed to maximize students’ opportunities to participate in TRYPO Large Ensembles.
- Most weeks, PE will meet from 12:45-1:45pm. If YPO Percussionists wish to participate, Mr. Worsdale will plan the rehearsal around your Percussion Ensemble time (ex: rehearsing concerti and smaller movements on first half of rehearsal).
- We will draft the full year rehearsal schedules over the summer avoiding PMEA events and other known conflicts. At the start of the season, we will collect other new known absences for the rest of the semester (such as school trips) and tweak the rehearsal schedule to maximize attendance for all students.
- One of PE’s performances will include a shared concert with the Duquesne Percussion Ensemble.
- PERCUSSION ESSENTIALS (PrEss) Beginner percussionists: Learn the fundamentals of good percussion technique! Meets 20 weeks on Saturdays from 11:15-12:15 at Duquesne University. Skill demonstrations will take place twice a year for parents at Duquesne University.
SYMPHONETTE and Contraporktus have been hard at work crafting an exciting season for you. We will kick off its season with Mini-Camp at Ligonier Camp and Conference Center where students will dive in on their music and getting to know each other. Mini-Camp this year will extend to two nights. Periodic sectionals with TRYPO Artistic staff will give students the opportunity to dive in with experts on their instrument.
In November, we will join with members of the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh to perform selections from The Nutcracker at the North Block Mall. Our first formal concert will be in December shared with YPO. Repertoire highlights include the iconic St. Paul’s Suite by Gustav Holst, a solo with PSO Bassist and Symphonette Coach John Moore, and Walker’s Lyric for Strings. Students can enjoy two “TRYPO Goes to the PSO” events next year, one of which includes Walker’s Lyric for Strings, which as stated above is on our repertoire list. We have invitations out to the Pittsburgh Symphony for a special guest to visit us and we will keep you posted as we hear what they are able to do. Symphonette will also have student mentor visits from members of YPO next season!
Lastly, it was so much fun to take SYM on the road, we are planning to do it again! We are working on a short trip to Gettysburg that will include both performance and battlefield visit, perfect to celebrate our country’s 250th anniversary!
TUTTI is excited for the 25-26 season! Tutti has been growing by leaps and bounds and we can’t wait to see who joins our ranks next season. Tutti continues to be a non competitive large ensemble string orchestra for any string playing student with at least one year of experience who wants to be there as long as there is space in the ensemble. Students who want a little bit of an extra challenge can add on Tutti Primo which is another 30 minutes and a little bit tougher music.
Tutti’s rehearsal time will stay on Saturdays but is going to shift by 30 minutes next season to 2:00-3:30pm (Tutti Primo continues until 4:00pm on some Saturdays). Tutti will kick off its season with an extended rehearsal day called Tutti Time! where students will dive in on repertoire and getting to know each other. Tutti will perform three to four times next year. Tutti students are invited to join “TRYPO Goes to the PSO” events next year where we have selected two concerts that TRYPO can attend together. Tutti will also have student mentor visits from members of Symphonette next season!
YOUTH CHAMBER CONNECTION for the 25-26 season will be packed with exciting learning and performance opportunities for all students who register. Youth Chamber Connection continues to be a program for students of all ages, instruments, and playing levels to participate in small chamber ensembles of quartets and quintets and receive 20 coachings with our incredible artistic faculty. The season will kick off with an orientation for all students involved, going over the exciting plans for the year. We will continue to hold semester recitals, lobby performances for TRYPO and PYSO concerts, and there will be a return of ChamberFest in January 2026! Additionally, the Artistic team for YC2 is considering offering a new selective Honors Track (details to follow)! Registration for the Youth Chamber Connection program opens early June 2025.
APPRENTICE CONDUCTING PROGRAM Explore studying conducting with the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra music director Brian Worsdale. Opportunities include traditional classes, immersive experiences, observations, and residencies with our TRYPO ensembles. Further opportunities may include attending rehearsals of the Pittsburgh Symphony and meeting guest conductors and artists that work with our TRYPO programs. Program info packet and registration opens August 2025.
ALUMNI EVENTS Because of the proximity to New Year’s, we won’t do a reading session in January.
However, per some alumni suggestions, we are targeting the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Scheherezade concert on May 29-31 for an alumni get together! Stay tuned!
