About Us

The Young People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley provides a supportive environment for young musicians to develop quality musicianship through studying and performing music with their peers. 

Investing in a world where students find joy, value and pride in their musical endeavours, form quality relationships with mentors and establish lasting friendships with peers.

Musical Excellence  

Students come from the Greater Lehigh Valley, Poconos, and New Jersey to audition for seats in the ensembles.  Generally students have been taking lessons for several years, and are among the leaders in their own school music programs.  

Education 

Students deepen their knowledge of classical music and their instrument through the experience of playing in an orchestra.  Conductors are music educators who impart knowledge on proper performance practice and techniques.  Every ensemble employs additional educators to help students with their parts.  Every semester, rehearsals are dedicated to sectionals, where students can focus solely on their part guided by an expert in that instrument. 

Music Appreciation

We tour to schools to introduce young audiences to classical music.  The goal is to engage young audiences and make orchestral music accessible to them.  We inspire young student audiences who witness their peers playing at a high level. 

YPP students also have opportunities to attend professional performances.

Nurturing Environment  

All students are valued and encouraged to find their best musical performance.  We promote a combination of healthy competition and cooperation.  Students are given the opportunity to show skill and advanced ability in seating auditions, concerto competitions and chamber music placement.  Educators are caring individuals and experts in youth music performance and education and must balance lessons in group cohesion as well as excellence.

Discipline  

Since the music is at a high level, students must practice daily, commit to rehearsals weekly and focus and participate for the duration of rehearsals and concerts.

Family & Community  

Students make friends with similar priorities and interests in music.  Families and alumni make the majority of our infrastructure, Board and volunteer force.  A significant degree of Annual Fund support comes from alumni and their families.

Teamwork  

The nature of the orchestral experience means the students must play together as a group.  The whole ensemble only makes progress when the group works together.  This is also true of chamber music.

Service 

We bring music to the Lehigh Valley because we believe it is in the best interest of the wider community.  

Inclusion 

All families are welcome and all students treated fairly and equally.  The only mitigating factor for entry is level of playing and preparedness.

The Young People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes provided under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 and does not contemplate pecuniary gain or profit incidental or otherwise.  The YPP is an approved Educational Improvement Organization in Pennsylvania.  A working Board of Directors composed of the orchestras’ conductors, staff, parents, and local music teachers is responsible for the organization’s governance.

Board meetings are held on the first non-holiday Monday of each month September through June (excluding May).  The annual meeting is held in May.  Executive committee meetings are held as needed.  All meetings are open to interested parties.

In addition to developing and educating its members, the orchestras reach out into the community to educate and inspire an interest in music. The orchestras perform three formal concerts per year. Combined these concerts draw approximately 1500 attendees.

In addition to the formal concerts, the orchestras have a special relationship with area schools as a result of the school concerts they perform each year.  School tours to different local districts each year enable the young players to share their music with their young contemporaries.  Peers bringing music to peers is our critical difference!

The orchestras also perform concerts at area nursing homes each year.  In all, the YPP and JSP provide an in-depth exposure of symphonic music for about 130 young musicians, and an enjoyable and educational experience for more than 4,000 people in the community each year.

Board meetings are held on the first non-holiday Monday of each month September through June (excluding May).  The annual meeting is held in May.  Executive committee meetings are held as needed.  All meetings are open to interested parties.

The Young People’s Philharmonic performs the highest quality orchestral repertoire under the direction of Jordan R. Smith.  Students must master their own parts and, by playing and listening in rehearsal, learn how their parts contribute to the composition as a whole. This provides a deeper understanding of the underlying structure of the music and the background material required for college or conservatory music study. Our students rehearse once weekly for 2 ½ hours and have several sectional rehearsals per year with professional coaches appropriate for their instrument.  Each student receives more than 65 hours of instruction per year. This year we provided over 7,800 hours of musical instruction.  Every year several graduating seniors go on to professional music study, and nearly all remain actively involved in music performance.

The Junior String Philharmonic also plays original compositions.  It provides intensive training in string performance under the guidance of Conductor Rachel Galassi, and String Coach Natalie Trach. It is a preparatory experience for advancement into the senior orchestra.

The Young People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley was founded in 1976 by Jerry T. and Nancy Bidlack, and is composed of two orchestras.  One, a full symphonic orchestra made up of 85 talented high school students and the other, a string orchestra made up of 45 middle school students.  These young musicians come from all over the Lehigh Valley (Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Carbon, Bucks, and Berks counties) and Western New Jersey to audition for a seat in the orchestra. Auditions are held in May for the following school year. The musicians rehearse for two and one-half hours weekly at First Presbyterian Church in Bethlehem.

Learn more about our story.