Exciting things are happening this year with the Vivace Youth Orchestras and we do not want you to miss out. JOIN US! Sign up today. If you have played previously in Vivace Youth Orchestra (or the Vivace Orchestra Camp), Utah Valley Symphony, any of the top Lyceum Orchestra/Symphony groups no audition is required, all you need to do is register and pay the $25 registration fee to reserve your spot.

If you have not previously played in one of the listed groups, just create an audition video via YouTube and send us the link when you register: there’s a spot on the registration form to put the link to your video. If you would rather audition in person, send an email to vivaceorchestras@gmail.com to request an audition time, or come join us for a rehearsal to see what it’s like.

REHEARSALS

Rehearsals will be held on Wednesdays in American Fork at the TAF Arts Center (53 W. Main):

• Symphony 3:15-5:30
• Chamber 4:30-5:30

Timpanogos Arts Foundation and Vivace Youth Orchestras hosted 2022’s

Youth Symphony Festival of Utah

View the Festival Program here

ABOUT US

We know a thing or two about nurturing young artists. Vivace Youth Orchestra is led by award winning Artistic Director Denise Willey. Mrs. Willey was the founder of the Lyceum Orchestra Program in 1987, and the Lyceum Music Festival Youth in 2014. Under her direction, the LMFY received Best In State recognition in 2018.

Mrs. Willey has directed thousands of young musicians from across the country at the Lyceum Music Festival-Youth and Mountains & Strings camps, the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, and in school and after-school orchestra programs. She is known for transforming groups of musicians into stunning orchestral performers. One of her great passions in life is symphonic and chamber orchestra music, and sharing and fostering that love with the students she teaches.

OUR DIRECTORS

Denise Willey, founder and artistic director of VIVACE Youth Orchestra Program and founder of Vivace Orchestra Camp, was named Utah Music Teacher of the Year by the American String Teachers Association and was awarded Best of State (Children’s Orchestra and Camp) in 2018. An enthusiast of teaching Suzuki students to read music, she authored the I LOVE to Read Music! literacy program and Easy Steps to Music Reading. A collection of her arrangement of hymns and primary songs for young string players is being published by Christmas. She has a Bachelor of Music from the University of Utah and has directed hundreds of young musicians from across the country at the Vivace Orchestra Program, Mountains & Strings camps, the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, and in school and after-school orchestra programs. She maintains a thriving private studio, is an SAA Registered Suzuki Teacher Trainer, and has served on the Suzuki Association of Utah board of directors for over thirty years. Mrs. Willey is the mother of six grown children, all of whom have received national recognition for their music; among them is the Professor of Viola and Theory at BYU-Idaho, the first place winner of the American Strings Teacher Association National Solo Competition, the director of the Vivace Family Music Camp, the principal cellists for fourteen years of the Orchestra at Temple Square (in which all six have performed) and the record holder for the most students solos with the Utah Symphony (five times). Four others have also soloed with the Utah Symphony, a total of eleven times. All six have played in principal chairs at All-State Orchestra and at National High School Honors Orchestra. Nearly two dozen of her students and former students have soloed with the Utah Symphony, and over three dozen with the Utah Valley Symphony. Her students have been scholarship winners across the nation. She is also the happy grandmother of eighteen, most of whom play a stringed instrument and piano, at least those who can walk and hold a bow. She teaches the orchestras at Willow Creek Middle School in Lehi.

Alexander Willey, who has soloed twice with the Utah Symphony, was principal bass in All-State Orchestra for five years, and was the youngest music missionary ever in the Orchestra at Temple Square, age 13. He’s graduating from BYU in Bass Performance, and has been concertmaster of American Fork Symphony. He completed a full tour of duty in the military, and now teaches a huge studio of violin, viola, cello, and bass students. He is the director of the Vivace Chamber Orchestra.