Connections: Spring 2025

Northern Valley Youth Orchestras presents Connections: a winter concert, on March 2nd at 4:30 pm at the Empire Arts Center. The two NVYO student symphony orchestras will perform an exciting variety of symphonic music, including familiar favorites, and lesser-known masterpieces, by living and historic composers, including a North Dakota premiere of Brianna Ware’s The Moirai.
Experience connections to the past and to other cultures through historic composers Alexander Borodin, Edward Elgar, and Antonin Dvorak; explore musical connections to dance, video games, and and mythology through exciting works from Pascual Narro, and American composers L. Brianna Ware, Russell Peterson, and Brian Balmages .
NVYO includes two performing symphonic orchestras: Symphony, conducted by Dr. Kevin Sütterlin and assistant Devon Tucker; and Philharmonic, led by Kara Hartten with assistant Katie Stermer. The 80+ string, wind, brass and percussion student musicians come from over a dozen regional cities and schools in Minnesota and North Dakota. NVYO programs provide challenging symphonic technique and performance opportunities for young musicians aged 9 to 21, within a supportive setting. NVYO participants make music, make friends, and use their talents to make a difference in the community.
NVYO and its programming are supported in part by a number of generous grants including: the City of Grand Forks through the Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, and region; the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Myra Foundation; and Neel Family Fund and Iseminger Fund for the Arts, both via the the Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, and region. Additional support and assistance from donors and sponsors, dozens of area music teachers, and community venues, make the activities of this season possible.