The Greenville County Youth Orchestra’s Nov. 18 Fall Concert brings more than 200 student musicians from all four GCYO ensembles — Prelude, Intermezzo, Philharmonic, and Young Artist Orchestra — to the Peace Center Concert Hall. The performance is the first of a three-concert season that pairs student musicians with professional artists. It begins at 7:30 p.m.; tickets range from $11 to $33.
Opera selections join the Young Artist Orchestra’s program
The Young Artist Orchestra will share the stage with professional singers John and Shannon Dooley, a husband-and-wife team, for opera selections, according to the Greenville Journal. The program includes arias and duets from Mozart's “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni,” Puccini's “O mio babbino caro” from “Gianni Schicchi,” and selections from “The Magic Flute.” The orchestra will also perform Mozart's “The Impresario” Overture and the first movement of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony.
Neil Casey, music director of the Young Artist Orchestra, said the orchestra is bringing excellent guest artists to perform alongside students, according to the Journal. Casey is in his second season with the orchestra and also teaches strings at St. Joseph's Catholic School. The organization serves more than 160 students across its four ensembles, according to SC Arts Hub.
A school-day concert gives students an early look
The season’s March 9, 2027, concert will feature internationally known violinist Ida Kavafian in the Peace Center’s inaugural Festival of Music. The event listing says Kavafian will join the Young Artist Orchestra for Max Bruch's “Scottish Fantasy,” with Neil Casey conducting, according to Peace Center materials. The Journal describes Kavafian as a distinguished chamber musician and longtime Curtis Institute of Music faculty member who has built an international career as a soloist, teacher, and festival director.
Casey said bringing an artist of Kavafian's stature to Greenville to perform with young musicians pleased him, describing the performance as part of the orchestra's mission to expose young people to great professional musicians, the Journal reported. The orchestra’s first education concert, “Why Play an Instrument,” is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. as a free performance. It is aimed particularly at fourth- and fifth-grade students, who will soon have the opportunity to begin studying an instrument in Greenville County Schools. Kavafian is slated to perform an excerpt from Bruch's “Scottish Fantasy” for the audience.
The student concerto competition and a Respighi finale
The season ends April 14 with all four GCYO ensembles and the winner of the organization’s annual concerto competition, according to the Journal. The Young Artist Orchestra plans to close with the finale of Respighi's “Pines of Rome,” featuring antiphonal brass players positioned in the balcony.
The concerto competition has previously spotlighted young talent from the Upstate. Last season, 17-year-old Greenville violinist Jerry Gan won the orchestra's Concerto Competition and performed the first movement of Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto with the Young Artist Orchestra at a March 7 concert at the Peace Center's Gunter Theatre, the Journal reported in a separate interview. The Greenville County Youth Orchestras archive lists a concert at the Peace Center on May 6, 2025.
More youth programming at the Peace Center
Beyond the GCYO concert, the Peace Center says its student matinees are educational performances geared toward specific grades and whole-student development. Its event archive also lists Greenville County Youth Orchestras at the venue on April 18, 2014, documenting an earlier appearance.
