Sarasota Youth Orchestras

Whether striving to be a professional musician or fostering a lifelong love of music, students through the Sarasota Youth Orchestras realize and advance their vision. Participants stay in each ensemble for an average of two years. They master the skills and techniques of musical playing in addition to developing self motivation, leadership and personal growth. All ensembles are coached by members of the Sarasota Orchestra and the String Ensembles may also participate in a musicianship class to develop inner rhythm and style.

Each participant in the Youth Orchestra program pays $370 tuition. This is in addition to the $25 application fee and is due upon invoice. The $370 tuition is only a fraction of the actual cost to Sarasota Orchestra per student. We are grateful to the Sarasota Orchestra Friends and the generosity of donors and granting organizations that help keep the costs to students reasonable.

Do you know a student that would enjoy being a part of our program? Help us spread the word and receive $25 off your tuition for each new student.

Example: Talk with 4 new students that meet the requirements below and receive $100 off your tuition.

Sarasota Orchestra is fortunate to be able to offer several types of scholarships. Through the generosity of many donors and numerous foundations, we are able to off-set tuition expenses. We also strongly believe in the benefit of private lessons and are able to help subsidize students’ lesson expenses. In addition, we offer scholarships for summer music camps and college music majors.

Need-based tuition scholarships are awarded to cover a portion of program cost (between 10% and 75%). Please include a letter of explanation. These letters can greatly help the committee with their decisions.

Sarasota Orchestra understands that many families have more than one child in our program. To help off-set these expenses, we offer a reduced tuition rate to families with more than one student participating in the Youth Orchestra Program. Often these are 50% scholarships.

For example, $370 for the first child, $185 for each additional child. You must request this scholarship on the application.

FULL TUITION scholarships (excluding application fee) are awarded based on family need. To be considered for a full tuition scholarship, you must provide full income disclosure (IRS 1040 Form, page one, front and back) and an explanation of scholarship need. Full scholarships cannot be granted without this documentation.

These are awarded to Youth Orchestra participants to help defray a percentage of the cost of private lessons (38 lesson maximum Sept.-June).