Articles
The Idaho Falls Youth Symphony
Darrell Brown, Music Director
Want to join the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony?
Click here for the Youth Symphony auditions page.
Current members do not need to reaudition.
Regularly-scheduled rehearsals are held THURSDAY EVENINGS from 7:00-9:00pm in the Idaho Falls High School Band Room. Check back here for Schedule Updates!
In the fall of 2011, the Youth Symphony members adopted the following as their self-stated mission:
To provide the youth of Eastern Idaho with a quality outlet for musical talent, encourage musical excellence in the community, to realize the benefits of musical education and to inspire young minds to prepare for futures in music.
And, as their motto:
Practice Makes Perfect, so shut up and play!
ABOUT US: The Idaho Falls Youth Symphony was founded in 1989 by conductor Eric Wenstrom as the Eastern Idaho Youth Symphony and later incorporated into the Idaho Falls Symphony Society. The purpose of the Youth Symphony is to provide young musicians a positive, educational, and fulfilling experience as members of a full orchestra. The Youth Symphony also seeks to enhance area school music programs by providing an experience that will challenge the students’ developing musical skills. Many of the concerts have featured young artists as soloists, as well as noted guest artists from Russia and the Utah Opera. The Youth Symphony was the featured performing group in the 1995 broadcast of the Colonial Theatre fund-raiser, aired over local CBS affiliate KIDK Channel 3.
Idaho Falls Youth Symphony Music Director Darrell Brown is an active conductor, clinician, music educator, and composer. Beyond working with the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony, he is also currently the director of the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra. He is also engaged in directing ensembles, classroom instruction, and teaching composition as a full-time member of the Department of Music at Brigham Young University – Idaho. Previous positions have included conducting the Corpus Christi Municipal Band and working at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas; associate conductor of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra in Orem, Utah and teaching at Provo High School in Provo, Utah; teaching adjunct at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; and teaching music at the Camelot Schools in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe.
Additional opportunities include guest conducting with the Corpus Christi Chamber Orchestra and the Corpus Christi Wind Symphony, stage managing for the instrumental ensembles for the Texas Music Educators Association’s annual convention held in San Antonio, Texas, and serving as clinician for many high school ensembles throughout the Coastal Bend area of Texas and for the High Plains Festival in Nebraska.
An active composer and avid supporter of new music, Brown has commissioned and premiered over 18 works for large ensemble and co-hosted an annual “Composition Symposium” featuring guest composers in residencies, focusing on their music in recitals, concerts, interviews, Q&A sessions, and masterclasses. As a composer, Brown’s music has been heard regularly in concert with premieres as recent as the summer of 2012.
He currently resides in Rexburg, Idaho with his wife Robyn and their five daughters: Ada, Ruth, Ramona, Elinor, and Magnolia.
David A. Burger, conductor
(1953-2012)
We love Mr. B! Everyone at the Idaho Falls Symphony and the Youth Symphony was shocked and saddened by the news of Dave Burger's unexpected passing on September 21st, 2012. We offer our most sincere condolences to the Burger family, his lovely and talented wife Jilene, his friends and colleagues, and the hundreds of students whose lives Dave impacted each and every day, selflessly and with an unyielding enthusiasm. Together we mourn the loss of a dear and compassionate friend, whose contributions to the Symphony extended into virtually every aspect of the organization, and whose dedication to music inspired us all. Dave's memory will always remain a large part of who we are. Dave was conductor of the Youth Symphony from 2002-2012.