Our Name
We chose the term Verdugo as an all-inclusive reference to the original Verdugo Rancho that covered the area from the San Gabriel to the San Fernando Valleys in Southern California. We chose this name specifically to encompass the myriad communities we serve. Our VYMA Youth Orchestra programs draw young musicians from all across the region. VYMA represents 47 schools from 18 Southern California communities, including: Arcadia, Burbank, Eagle Rock, Glendale, La Canada, La Crescenta, Los Angeles, Monrovia, Pasadena, San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena, Sunland, Tujunga.
Our Philosophy
VYMA is dedicated to helping young musicians feel successful through learning and sharing music. Becoming an essential and valued member of our musical community and working together toward a shared goal, members learn the consistency, dedication and teamwork needed to create beautiful music. And they discover how much fun that work can be!
By deeply respecting and believing in the potential in all young musicians and by being a supportive and nurturing presence in their lives, we encourage and challenge our students to be the very best they are able while providing a safe place to take risks. With love and encouragement, we inspire our young musicians to make music with their minds and hearts.
A hallmark of the VYMA philosophy is the encouragement of teamwork rather than competition. We encourage the students to feel that they are all part of one ensemble, and each student can move on to more challenging music as he or she is ready. We downplay the importance that orchestras often place on seating for status. The seating arrangement is changed frequently, not as reward or punishment, but to give students the opportunity to sit in the front and the back of the orchestra. No one is treated as “second fiddle,” because all parts of the music are equally important. At the same time, advanced students will have the opportunity to become concertmaster or section leader because these are also essential roles to acquire. Repertoire is carefully selected to meet the abilities, aspirations, and educational needs of students at varying levels of musical development.
Our Mission
The mission of the Verdugo Young Musicians Association (VYMA) is to transform young lives through music. We strive to fulfill our mission through high-level music education programs where young musicians discover the dedication, teamwork and joy of making music together, enhance their musical skills, and create pathways to success and self-esteem. VYMA’s hallmark is its nurturing, non-competitive ensemble setting and excellent faculty of professional, performing musicians who serve as conductors, teaching artists and mentors.
Our Story
VYMA was founded in 2001 by a group of parents to supplement existing music education by offering ensemble opportunities for children preempted from joining an orchestra because of age, ability and/or financial means.
VYMA’s goal is to provide inclusive, high quality music education by professional, performing musicians in a nurturing, fun, non-competitive setting. This approach has proven to be highly successful. Children with minimal training have achieved recognizably impressive standards of classical music excellence.
In April 21, 2001, within four months of its first rehearsal, the 30-member String Orchestra performed its inaugural concert at the Glendale Central Library under the direction of Samvel Chilingarian. This initial ensemble, ranging in age from 7 to 15 with varying levels of experience, soon blossomed into a full orchestra, adding winds, brass and percussion. As the orchestra grew, more tiers were added and more programs offered: Chamber Ensembles (spring 2002), Jazz Ensemble (summer 2008), Summer Music Camp (summer 2009) and VYMA Music Project at Longfellow Elementary in Pasadena (fall 2009).
VYMA musicians have performed at numerous venues — among them, Pasadena Sexson Auditorium, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (as part of the L.A. Philharmonic’s Symphonies for Youth) and Walt Disney Concert Hall (as an L.A. Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Partner), Thorne Hall, Occidental College, Pacific Asia Museum (Pasadena Art Night) and the Association of California Symphony Orchestras 2012 Conference in Pasadena.
Our mission of inclusiveness and nurturing of young musicians has demonstrated that the power of ensemble music dramatically impacts the life trajectory of youth while also transforming the communities around them.
Given our commitment to our community and our dedication to serve young musicians – especially those who have no or little access to music education – VYMA joined a network of stakeholders in the Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA) in November 2007, a Los Angeles Philharmonic initiative whose goal is to create El Sistema-inspired music programs in Los Angeles County. In December 2008, Music Director Samvel Chilingarian and then Board Vice-President Louise Ghandhi (now Chair Emiritus) traveled to Venezuela to study El Sistema, meeting with many of its teachers, conductors, young musicians and its inspiring founder, Maestro Jose Antonio Abreu.
In September 2009, VYMA launched VYMA Music Project at Longfellow, a community engagement program at Longfellow Elementary School, a Title I school in the Pasadena Unified School District. This program provides free instruments and free instruction to 100 Longfellow Elementary students after school. The program is supported by the parents through myriad in-kind support as well as our partners, PasadenaLEARNs and several generous donors and foundations. After only 10 weeks, the VYMA Music Project at Longfellow gave its spectacularly successful debut performance with a string orchestra and choir made up of first to sixth graders. Since 2015, the VYMA music project has been run by the Harmony Project.
Our collaborative efforts was most evident in February 2010 when the first annual Youth Orchestra Day was held in Pasadena, a combined performance of four youth orchestras: the Olympia Youth Orchestra, the Pasadena Young Musicians Association, the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra and VYMA. Each orchestra performed individually and collectively concluding the extraordinary event with 350 musicians playing the world premiere of The Net of Indra, composed for this occasion by Russell Steinberg. In 2010 VYMA was named Emeritus Youth Orchestra Partner by the LA Philharmonic. As such, our musicians were honored to host guest conductor Perry So, one of four ‘Dudamel Fellows.’
Going forward, VYMA is committed to impacting young musicians by providing them with a rich musical experience while offering opportunities for meaningful performances and community engagement while spreading the love of music among youth.