Pearland Youth Orchestra

Join the Pearland Youth Orchestra

The Pearland Youth Orchestra provides a high-quality string performance experience for promising young musicians in the Pearland area and enhances the lives of student musicians by providing dynamic musical experiences, fostering collaboration, instilling personal responsibility, and cultivating confidence through the pursuit of artistic excellence.

The Pearland Youth Orchestra instruments groups include violin, viola, cello, and double bass, all of which are also offered as private lesson options at Allegro.

Apply your skills

Two orchestras are available to students in 5th grade-high school. The Pearland Youth Orchestras perform a Winter Concert, Spring Concert, and at select special events and festivals. Students must be in private lessons and remain in private lessons while performing with the orchestra. There are many benefits to performing with the Pearland Youth Orchestra.

Students learn to work together to accomplish a shared task while developing leadership skills, interpersonal skills, and applying what they have learned in lessons. Additionally, students progress at a faster rate than with private lessons alone. Contact the academy for audition dates.

Orchestra Levels

The String Orchestra

Conducted by Ms. Ruby Ortiz & Ms. Hannah Deplazes, this ensemble provides intermediate to advanced string players with valuable rehearsal and performance skills that will challenge and shape both their musicianship and leadership.

The Preparatory Orchestra

Conducted by Ms. Clara Bezemek & Mr. Nick Carcamo, this ensemble provides entry-level string players with the skills they will need to succeed in any orchestra or future ensemble. Coupled with private lessons, entry-level string players can expect their ear, technique, and musicianship to grow exponentially.

Chamber Strings Ensemble

By conductor invitation only

Audition Requirements

PYO auditions are approximately 15 minutes in length and private to the string player and PYO leadership. String players can audition for the Prep Orchestra or String Orchestra. A good way to know which branch your string players should audition for is to use their experience and book level. String players with a year of experience or who are at the end of Book 1 or the Start of Book 2 of the Suzuki or Essential Elements series should consider auditioning for Prep Orchestra. String players in Book 3 or higher of Suzuki or Essential Elements with 3 or more years of experience should consider auditioning for the String Orchestra. Audition material varies for each branch. The following is what to prepare the audition:

Prep Orchestra

String Orchestra

Joining the Chamber Strings Ensemble is by conductor invitation only.

Rehearsals

Location

Both orchestras rehearse at Peace Church, located at:

2849 Miller Ranch Rd ste 503 Pearland, TX 77584

Tuition

Tuition is $18.50 per rehearsal and is billed monthly on the 1st of the month. All branches of the Orchestra rehearse year round.

The String Orchestra

The String Orchestra is led by Ms. Ruby Ortiz and Ms. Hannah Deplazes

Ms. Ruby Ortiz

Ms. Ruby was born in Katy, TX and grew up in the Cypress area, attending CFISD schools where she first developed her love for the viola. She received her undergraduate degree with honors in Music Education at Stephen F. Austin State University in 2015, and has since taught as an orchestra director in several Houston area school districts, including La Porte ISD, Cypress Fairbanks ISD, and Katy ISD.

Ms. Ruby has also served as an adjudicator for Solo & Ensemble, Pre-UIL, and All-Region, both within and beyond the state of Texas. She also enjoys being a guest clinician for several Houston area orchestra programs, and has also served as a guest conductor for both the East Texas Youth Orchestra and Regents Academy, and also taught for several years at the Central Heights Orchestra program which she helped found.

Ms. Ruby has also served as the Camp Director for the SFA Strings Camp from 2017 to 2021 and has worked in administrative capacities for other music camps including the Chloé Trevor Music Academy, the Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp, Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra Camp, and the Allegro Summer Strings Camp. She is also the conductor of the Pearland Youth Orchestra and Chamber Strings Ensemble.

Ms. Ruby has intermediate Spanish knowledge and basic American Sign Language skills.

Ms. Hannah Deplazes

Ms. Hannah holds her Master’s in Cello Performance from the University of Houston, Moores School of Music, and her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Performance from Minot State University. Private teachers include the esteemed Mr. Anthony Kitai, Dr. Erik Anderson, and Caroline Busser to name a few. Ms. Hannah has additionally honed her skills in Masterclasses with Debbie Pae, the Formosa String Quartet, and Dr. Ashley Sandor Sidon. She has also performed in Munich, Germany at the Internationale Meisterkurse Raumberg and High Peaks Music Festival.

Ms. Hannah is the Winner of Minot Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Solo Competition, she was a participant at the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition Finals in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and earned 1st place at Regional and State Jugend Musiziert Wettbewerb, 3rd place at National Jugend Musiziert Wettbewerb. She has performed with the Moores School Opera and Symphony Orchestra, the Tomatz String Quartet, the Minot Symphony Orchestra, Western Plains Opera Company, and Cello Ensemble Repertoire at the Eastman Cello Institute at the Eastman School of Music.

Ms. Hannah has been teaching for many years and currently performs in the Houston area.

The Preparatory Orchestra

The Preparatory Orchestra is led by Ms. Clara Bezemek, with Mr. Nick Carcamo as the orchestra assistant.

Ms. Clara Bezemek

Ms. Clara is a violist and pianist from El Paso, Texas. She holds her bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in viola from Texas Tech University where she studied with Dr. Kimberly Sparr.

She has performed in several ensembles during her time at Texas Tech, including the University Symphony Orchestra, TTU Tango Orchestra, and TTU chamber ensemble.

She has taught with the Texas Tech String Project for 5 years, teaching group string classes to students of all ages. She has taught private string and piano lessons for the past 5 years both in Lubbock, Texas, and now in the greater Houston area. She currently teaches elementary music at Spring Branch ISD.

She is excited to share her love and passion for music with her students.

Mr. Nick Carcamo

Mr. Nick began his musical journey with violin in 5th grade, then his love for music pushed him to learn piano in high school. Here, he was honored by being chosen for a program that the Houston Symphony sponsored. In the program, he worked with members and even the conductor for the Houston Symphony. Fascinated in music, he began to obtain an associates degree while working with Allegro Academy. His goal with students is to make sure that music is an enjoyable experience and something that seems very vast. Therefore, piquing interest in students and pushing them on the right path of being able to practice anything they want! Now having his Associates Degree in Music from San Jacinto College, he plans on going to a university to obtain his music ed. degree and work with elementary students. At San Jacinto, he worked under Ingrid Gerling for two years and had opportunities to perform in high schools and ensembles within churches & weddings.

Mr. Nick Invites all levels and ages to start a musical journey. He shares his passion and encourages students to use music as something that is theirs. Music is something that they can use as an advantage in life and gain many new experiences. Just like the ancient Greeks, he believes that music is one of the components to live a fulfilled life and plans to share this ambition with the younger generations to come.