The LaGrange Symphony Youth Orchestra (LSYO) provides rich training and performance opportunities for high-school aged musicians, while the LSYO String Ensemble and String Sprouts serve children 5 to 13 years of age. Aspiring young musicians can pursue their musical dreams with weekly rehearsals, weekly wind sectional rehearsals and monthly string sectional rehearsals.
Directed by professional musicians, we provide these young musicians with the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of performing in a symphonic group. Their progress and achievements are showcased at concerts held each fall and spring. Other performance opportunities are provided for small ensembles throughout the year.
Maestro Richard Prior is the Interim LaGrange Symphony Youth Orchestra Conductor.
An award-winning conductor and composer, Richard Prior has a deep family heritage in music that includes grandfather, Albert Waggett (flautist and a founding member of Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group), great uncle, Fred Waggett (a noted figure in mid twentieth-century British conducting and colleague of Eric Coates), and cousin, Tim Garland (composer and jazz saxophone legend).
His own musical training began in his native England with an upbringing in the rich tradition of English cathedral choirs. As an undergraduate at Leeds University, he was the Lord Edward Boyle Choral Scholar at Leeds Minster, studying vocal performance with renowned contralto, Jean Allister. He holds a BA (Hons) from Leeds, an AMusD from Nottingham University, and is an Associate Fellow (Church Music) of the National College of Music. Richard was also visiting Fellow in Music, guest composer and conductor at Oxford University. For twenty-seven years, he taught composition and built nationally recognized symphony programs in higher education settings in the United States before moving exclusively to professional conducting engagements and composing.
Sam Lee has been a part of the LaGrange music community since January of 1990 when he played in the first concert of the LaGrange College – Community Orchestra which became the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra later that year. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance from Columbus State University and a Master’s of Music Theory from Georgia State University. He studied violin under Oliver Steiner.
In the Fall of 1996, Mr. Lee began teaching Strings at LaGrange Academy. He is the founding conductor of the LaGrange Symphony Youth Orchestra, which originally began under his direction, as an affiliate of the Lafayette Society for Performing Arts, in 1997. He has played in many regional orchestras, including the Columbus Symphony, Carroll Symphony, and LaGrange Symphony, as well as being a regular free-lance musician. Mr. Lee frequently performs as violin/viola soloist, including many engagements with the Choral Society of West Georgia. He currently is the Director of the String Ensemble of the LaGrange Symphony Youth Orchestra, and teaches Strings at LaGrange Academy as well as for the LaGrange Symphony Youth String Program.
Mr. Lee is a native of Atlanta and currently resides in East Point, Georgia.
We Have a Space for You!
We would love for you to be a part of our network of students, teachers, and volunteers.
Contact us to find out more about how our program works and how you may be able to help. We offer lessons, concerts, camps, and more!
email us: info@lagrangesymphony.org
Each section of the Joy of Italy concert was timeless from the passion and drama of Carmen, to the renewal of Spring and finally to the sunshine drenched vistas of Mendelssohn’s Italian. It was delivered from the musicians with enthusiasm and skill and received by the audience with open hearts. Well done LSO! We enjoyed the lovely celebration of Joy of Italy and look forward to the April 29th season finale concert Music of the Night