JOINING OUR GROUP - AUDITIONS:
Audition Sign Ups for Sinfonietta and Senior Groups are now available.  

Auditions for the 2019/20 season are:
Sunday, September 8, 2018 from 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm and Monday, September 9 from 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm.  Click the Sign Up button on the left to choose a time slot and a date for your audition.
Students wishing to join an orchestra after the start of the season, may request an audition with the respective conductor at any point.  Please email: [email protected] for further information and to coordinate.

Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestras has three, tiered orchestras for beginners, intermediate and advanced string players and, starting this year, woodwinds, percussion and brass.  Students in our first orchestra, the Debut, are emergent string readers and demonstrate basic first position technique.  They may join this group with a teacher recommendation of readiness.  The second tier group, Sinfonietta, play at least at an end of  Suzuki book two level and range in age from approximately 8 to 13 years old.  The Senior Orchestra is comprised of advanced middle and high school students.  

One of the highlights of our organization is that our students are constantly performing in the community. In addition to our three formal concerts, we have performed at the farmer’s market, libraries, orchestra festivals, rehab centers, Pacific Place downtown Seattle and local schools. Additionally, the Senior Orchestra will have the opportunity to perform in a side-by-side concert with the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra in April of 2020. In all of our orchestras, we strive to produce the most artistically worthy and educationally rich experiences possible.

Preparing for Your Audition:
General Information:
Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestras (BIYO) holds annual auditions to place students in one of two orchestras, the Sinfonietta and the Senior Orchestra.  All students, new and returning, are required to audition each year. Below are the items students should prepare for auditions.

Please prepare the following for the audition:
1. Scales:   

• Sinfonietta: 2 octave D major scale and a 1 octave minor scale of your choice.   Woodwinds and Brass: Two scales of your choice, one major and one minor.
• Senior: 3 octave major scale of your choice and 2 octave minor scale of your choice.
• Scales should show your best tone, intonation and consistency of tempo.

2. Solo - strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion: 
Prepare up to four minutes (2-3 minutes for Sinfonietta) of a solo of your choice. You can choose to play a piece from the Suzuki books, a sonata, a concerto or any other piece of music that best displays your technical ability and the depth of your musical expression. No accompanist is needed and your solo does not need to be memorized.

3. Sight reading - strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion: 
A short excerpt will be provided at the audition. Suggested minimum requirements to play in the Sinfonietta:

• Be at a level equivalent of Book 2 of Suzuki.
• Be able to read notes in the keys of C, G, D, A.
• Be able to play in tune in first position. Experience in third position and beyond is recommended.
• Be able to sight-read simple rhythm patterns in common meters such as 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4.

Additional requirements to play in the Senior Orchestra:

• Ability to shift into 3rd and 4th positions with notes in tune. Extended position work highly recommended. 
• Ability to play in tune in keys with four or more sharps or flats.
• Ability to play with beautiful tone.
• Ability to play different articulations, bowings and performance styles.
• Ability to sight-read simple melodies with dotted rhythms and syncopation.