SPRING CONCERTO FESTIVAL
**Look for registration and information on our 2023-24 Concerto Festival events coming in December 2023. We anticipate two festivals in 2024: March 2 & 3 and June 8 & 9, 2024.**
Attend the Spring Concerto Festival!
The Spring Concerto Festival is ORS of Tacoma’s flagship event. This May, we will bring together student musicians and professional, collaborative musicians for a concert series to remember featuring the finest concerto repertoire and exciting pedagogical repertoire for our beginning students. Each student gets rehearsal and performance time with our full symphonic orchestra ensemble comprised of professional, collegiate, and advanced high-school musicians who are dedicated to ensuring each student has an excellent experience. The ensemble is conducted by ORS Music Director, Tigran Arakelyan. Learn more about him and his extensive background working with fellow musicians on our About page.
Join us in May at University of Puget Sound.
Performances:
May 19 at 7pm
May 21 at 2pm and 4pm
Eligibility
You are eligible for the Spring Concerto Festival if:
1) You are taking private lessons in your instrument area (you have a teacher)
2) You are able to successfully perform a piece from our repertoire list
3) You are available for all scheduled rehearsals and performances
That’s it! ORS prides itself on providing non-competitive performance opportunities for students of all ages, skills, and backgrounds.
Support the Festival
Volunteer with ORS!
When you volunteer with ORS, you are directly supporting students and artists. Volunteers often are distributing programs, directing patrons, and more! This is an excellent option for high school and college students who need volunteer hours and want to help behind the desk.
Donate to ORS!
A donation to our general fund allows ORS to put your dollars to work making noncompetitive performance an option for music students of all ages and skill levels here in the Puget Sound region. We are a 501(c)3 organization and donations are tax deductible.
Become a
festival sponsor!
Become either a festival, season, or sustaining/lead sponsor and support opportunities for students. Each tier has a myriad of benefits, including advertisements in the program, logo placement, verbal recognition, and more!
About the Music
Each year, the repertoire list is updated to ensure new opportunities and accuracy.



2023 - ORS POLICIES
- For concerto repertoire, the soloist must perform memorized by the second rehearsal. All pieces with a single featured soloist need to be memorized. Pieces for two or more soloists may use music. Exceptions may be made, but are not guaranteed, for non-piano solo instruments with proof of preparation and selection of an advanced piece.
- Attendance at each rehearsal is mandatory. Failure to appear for rehearsal will disqualify a participant from performing in a concert.
- Students are expected to dress as professional performers: concert casual to formal is appropriate.
- Students must be available for three rehearsals to perform in a concert, and should arrive 10-15 minutes before their scheduled time for each rehearsal and the concert time. If they cannot commit to three rehearsals and a performance, students should not register.
- Repeats in pieces are allowed only if the timing of the piece does not exceed the listed time in the repertoire list.
- Teachers are encouraged to explore new repertoire and suggest pieces to be added to the ORS repertoire list to be provided for performance through ORS. Suggestions can made on this form.
- Orchestra scores and parts for most standard concerti are readily available for loan through local orchestras. However, if a student wishes to perform a work whose orchestra parts are not locally available, it is the responsibility of the student and teacher to provide the orchestra parts and a conductor’s score. Some compositions, such as Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, are available only through rental agreement with the publisher. Students & teachers will be responsible for paying any publisher rental fees.
- Refunds for student registrations will be granted at 100% value until 18 days (2.5 weeks) after registration has closed. 20% refunds can be granted until 21 days (3 weeks) before the date of the first concert. After that date, no refunds can be granted.
2023 - ORS FEE SCHEDULE
Student fees cover the payment for the musicians scheduled to perform for that piece – and nothing else. ORS provides the venue, our incredible Music Director to conduct the ensemble, orchestral parts (for most pieces), and everything else that needs to happen “under the hood” to make sure that when you or your child take center stage, they have no worries about anything other than performing their best.
The works for soloist and pianist cost less than pieces with full orchestra, simply because of the number of players. In the same way, longer pieces and pieces with more additional instruments beyond strings costs more as the number of players and length of rehearsals and performances increase. The registration fee includes ALL aspects of the performance, including three rehearsals per student.
Table Key
No letter = Soloist with collaborative pianist
A = Soloist with string ensemble
B = Soloist, string ensemble, and up to 5 additional musicians (woodwinds, brass, percussion, etc.)
C = Soloist, string ensemble, and up to 10 additional musicians
D = Soloist, string ensemble, and more than 10 additional musicians
CATEGORY 1 – Less than five minutes | Fee |
1 – Soloist with collaborative pianist | $27.60 |
1A – Soloist with string ensemble | $104.10 |
1B – Soloist, strings, and up to 5 additional musicians | $143.40 |
1C – Soloist, strings, and up to 10 additional musicians | $183.00 |
1D – Soloist, strings, and more than 10 additional musicians | $214.00 |
CATEGORY 2 – Five to ten minutes | Fee |
2 – Soloist with collaborative pianist | $46.00 |
2A – Soloist with string ensemble | $173.50 |
2B – Soloist, strings, and up to 5 additional musicians | $245.83 |
2C – Soloist, strings, and up to 10 additional musicians | $305.00 |
2D – Soloist, strings, and more than 10 additional musicians | $357.00 |
CATEGORY 3 – Ten to fifteen minutes | Fee |
3 – Soloist with collaborative pianist | $78.20 |
3A – Soloist with string ensemble | $294.95 |
3B – Soloist, strings, and up to 5 additional musicians | $406.30 |
3C – Soloist, strings, and up to 10 additional musicians | $518.50 |
3D – Soloist, strings, and more than 10 additional musicians | $606.90 |
CATEGORY 4 – Fifteen to twenty minutes | Fee |
4 – Soloist with collaborative pianist | $105.80 |
4A – Soloist with string ensemble | $399.05 |
4B – Soloist, strings, and up to 5 additional musicians | $549.70 |
4C – Soloist, strings, and up to 10 additional musicians | $701.50 |
4D – Soloist, strings, and more than 10 additional musicians | $821.10 |