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FAIRFIELD, Conn. Christopher Hisey remembers thinking that auditioning for the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras as a child was a big deal. The Fairfield natives tone makes the idea seem like the result of an anxious sixth-graders nerves. But one look at the organization shows he wasnt wrong.
Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras includes about 240 musicians ranging from grades 5 through 12. Currently, its five groups feature kids from 28 towns across Fairfield and New Haven Counties.
Yet Hisey, the orchestras musical director, says he never has trouble bringing kids from such different backgrounds together. Music is sort of the unifying factor, Hisey says. It brings everybody together.
The organization includes five distinct performing groups. The Principal Orchestra is the main performance group, with the top musicians. The Symphony and Concert Orchestras are made up of kids who need more work or more experience. And the Strings Orchestra and Wind Ensemble are made up of their respective instrument types and for their players to gain more specialized experience.
At whatever level, the kids get rare opportunities for young musicians. Past groups have played Carnegie Hall and for the United Nations. Composers such as Chris Brubeck and David Gilbert have written pieces specifically for the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestra.
But mostly, the kids get to spend their Saturdays honing their craft with Hisey and dozens of their talented peers. The kids are amazing, Hisey says. Theyre like a sponge. They soak up all the musical information I can throw at them.
Hisey is an example of the musicians the program produces. A member until graduating high school, he returned after graduate school to run the training groups. Before taking over as musical director two years ago, he has conducted across the U.S., Mexico and Europe. He also serves as the music director and conductor of the American Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble he co-founded in 2003, the Civic Orchestra of New Haven and the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the orchestra will put on two special concerts over the next two weeks. On Sunday, the current class will perform at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport. Part of the show will be a piece written specifically for a steel pan drum group, with the kids playing alongside an ensemble from the Jim Royal Drum Studio.
Next weekend, about 40 of the organizations alumni will join forces for a second show on March 11. The Alumni Orchestra will play a series of classical pieces at the University of Bridgeport, home of some of the groups first performances.
Hisey doesnt even know what the end result will be next Sunday. The groups alumni will gather the day before at Fairfields Roger Ludlowe Middle School for its first and only round of rehearsals.
Im sure its going to be fun, Hisey says. But I have no idea what theyll sound like yet.
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