ALUMNI UPDATE: W. GREGORY BERTON

Posted on February 28, 2020

(PJS 1971 - 1975)

My participation in the Portland Junior Symphony has blessed me with a lifetime of music, travel, and friendships. When I was a junior at Grant High School, PJS awarded me a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival where I met my eventual teacher and mentor, Stuart Sankey, who had taught at Julliard for 23 years. That was... Read More ›

Recollections of Mary V. Dodge

Posted on February 28, 2020

By Janet Dodge Martin

The previous Alumni News issue included an excerpt from an interview with Linda Neale (PJS 1967), granddaughter of Ruth Saunders Leupold, a violin student of Mary Dodge in rural Harney County, Oregon, beginning about 1910. This account of Mary Dodge’s life is from a conversation with Janet Dodge Martin, her granddaughter. Many of Janet’s recollections are from her... Read More ›

RECOLLECTION & APPRECIATION BY GERRY AMATO (PJS 1976)

Posted on November 22, 2019

It is true what they say…...that when one reaches a certain age he or she reflects back to important events in their life. This is certainly the case for me being a member of the PYP back in the early to mid ‘70s. The experience I gained as a musician cannot be forgotten. It was a time of great importance for me,... Read More ›

LONGTIME PJS FAMILY RECALLS EARLY DAYS

Posted on November 22, 2019

Linda Neale (PJS 1967) and Georgia Marshall

Linda Neale and her mother, Georgia Leupold Marshall, came to the PYP office recently to share some stories of the early days of the Portland Junior Symphony.

Georgia’s mother (and Linda’s grandmother) Ruth Saunders was a violin student of PYP Founder Mary Dodge, first in Burns, and later when they both moved to Portland. Ruth played in... Read More ›

ALUMNA ELIZABETH ZWERENZ BELL GIVES LARGE GIFT TO PYP IN HER ESTATE

Posted on November 21, 2019

Elizabeth Zwerenz (pictured on the right) and Phyllis Falkoff, who together played JS Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins on April 6, 1940.

Alumna Elizabeth Zwerenz (December 12, 1920 - March 12, 2019) has left approximately $300,000 to Portland Youth Philharmonic to benefit young musicians for generations to come.

Elizabeth was part of the Portland Junior Symphony for seven years. She... Read More ›

THE GLORY DAYS BY SHARI TYLE HOUSE (PJS 1965)

Posted on November 20, 2019

This photo shows Shari with visiting Brazilian violist Fabiola, who is from Joao Pessoa, the city in Brazil where Shari and her husband played for 3 years. Fabiola now lives in Edmonton and came to perform recently with the Okanogan Symphony.

Once you have learned the myriad skills of an orchestral player, and have mastered the unrelated art of the audition,... Read More ›