Orchestra Profiles
Anchorage / Fairbanks / Des Moines / Duluth / Great Falls, Montana / New Mexico & Albuquerque / South Dakota / Vermont / Winston-Salem
South Dakota Symphony Orchestra + Sioux Empire Youth Orchestra + Dakota Academy of Performing Arts
ORP: April 2008
Founded in the 1920s at Augustana College, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) has grown to an ensemble of over 90 musicians. The orchestra performs all its concerts in the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls. Its season consists of fifteen full orchestra concerts on Saturdays and Sundays, five chamber concerts and assorted special event performances. Other communities in the region host SDSO musicians in a number of touring ensembles - the Dakota and Augustana String Quartets, Dakota Wind Quintet, and the Chamber Orchestra - in performances and workshops. The Volunteer League provides music education opportunities for adults and children, including the Pied Piper Program and the Symphony 101 pre-concert classes. Delta David Gier has been the Music Director of the South Dakota Symphony since 2004.
The Sioux Empire Youth Orchestra (SEYO) was established in 1975/6, and has grown to include four orchestras within the organization: the Prelude Orchestra (elementary), the Symphonia (intermediate), the Philharmonia (advanced), and the Youth Symphony (advanced performance). The SEYO policy is to accept every young musician with the desire and commitment to developing his or her musical talents in a progressive orchestra program.
The Dakota Academy of Performing Arts (DAPA) was established in 2001 to provide performing arts (music and theatre) experiences and education for young people in the community. It opened its doors with just $94. Since then, DAPA has grown from a 40-person youth orchestra and three acting classes to a 50-person youth orchestra, a large chamber music program, 35 actors in the Plays for Living Theatre Company and a faculty of 11 professional musicians, actors and directors.
Midori's residency was the first major collaborative event between SEYO and DAPA and inspired the South Dakota Symphony's decision in May 2008 to form its own Youth Orchestra in an effort to unite the two groups.