Joey Fortino doesn
’t remember being able to play this good when he was 11 years
old.
Joey Fortino doesn’t remember being able to play this good when he was 11 years old.
“I’ve been really impressed,” said the new director of the South Valley Youth Orchestra, which will hold its first concert of the year Tuesday. “When I think back to when I was in fifth grade learning to play the saxophone, it was pathetic. I was way behind where these players are.”
The South Valley Youth Orchestra, starting its second year, will perform a free community concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Gilroy High School Theater.
For Fortino, it’s been a new challenge after working with high school students in four bands at Gilroy High School.
“It’s been a real different challenge for me,” Fortino said. “I’m so used to working with high school students, and now there’s such a large range in ages. It’s been a lot of fun to see what the young students can do, and it’s been a lot of fun to push them along.”
The orchestra was run by Vincent Gomez, but when he announced that he would retire from the position, Youth Orchestra Board President Rosalie Bruning said she thought Fortino be a perfect fit.
“Joey has had a lot of experience in this community,” Bruning said. “He is the high school conductor and he knows the community. He was a supporter right from the start.”
During the group’s first year, Fortino loaned the music room at Gilroy High School to the students between his class periods and practices and often stayed to watch the group play.
“I had always thought that this area needed an orchestral program,” Fortino said. “I was really excited that there was a youth group starting up.”
Fortino stepped up to the challenge when Gomez retired.
“I thought it would be a great fit,” he said. “Eventually, in however many years it would talk to build up the program, my hope is that it would become part of the high school program.”
The group, which includes students from Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Martin and even as far as Hollister and San Jose, is made up of about 40 students ranging in age from 10 to 18. The orchestra is nonprofit and is supported through grants and sponsorships from local businesses. The group is tuition based, although many students join on scholarship. Most of the students involved in the group have at least two or three years of experience in band.
The group practices once a week and puts on two concerts a year and was included in a South Valley Symphony show last season.
For the holiday concert, Fortino said he has planned some festive music while displaying the students’ ability to play orchestral music as a group.
“A little mix of both,” he said. “Were going to do some carols, and the orchestra will play classical pieces.”
The cornerstone of the program will be “Danse Bacchanale” by Camile Saint Saens, a piece of music Fortino said is something mid- to upper-level high school students should be playing.
“It’s a fun piece; it moves quickly and it allows the individual parts to stand out,” Fortino said.
As for the future, Fortino hopes the youth orchestra continues to expand.
“I want it to outgrow the room as fast as possible,” Fortino said.
Right now, the only thing holding the group back from expanding is a lack of instruments, especially because the high school doesn’t not have an orchestra program.
Fortino has borrowed cellos and violins from Fremont and Saratoga high schools, but is still short on other instruments.
“When you have four that are willing to do it, but don’t have enough instruments to play, that’s the only thing holding us back.”
For more information about the youth orchestra, call 778-6905 or 842-4196.
