On a cold fall day, silver-haired musicians take their seats in a couple dozen green padded chairs set up in a semicircle in the cultural hall of a church building nestled between BYU campus and Y Mountain. The sound of string instruments being tuned to concert pitch rises above the room’s chatter.
Created in 2003 by founding director Andrew Dabczynski, BYU’s chapter of the New Horizons Orchestra entered its 22nd season this year, under the direction of BYU music professor Allison Bennett Taylor (BMu ’12, MMu ’22), who took over when Dabczynski retired. The orchestra, for adults over 40, serves as an entry point to learn string instruments or as a reentry point for those who have prior experience.
New Horizons violinist Janet Broderick first took up her instrument in the fourth grade but didn’t take it very seriously. “When the New Horizons Orchestra started up, that gave me a chance to pick the violin back up again,” Broderick says. “It’s been 22 years now.”
The orchestra performs one or two concerts a semester, often collaborating with local school orchestras to play arrangements of Blue Danube and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. “I’m playing songs that I never dreamed I would,” says Charles Erekson, who learned violin through the orchestra.
Professor Samuel Tsugawa (BMu ’87, MMu ’93) says the orchestra is also a training ground for BYU music education students, who serve as teaching assistants during rehearsals. “Like most skills, you need repetition,” Tsugawa says. “Teaching is no different.”
Working as a TA for the orchestra for a year and a half gave Alli J. Rushing (BMu ’24) the chance to get in front of an orchestra before her student teaching assignment. She says it was great to be able to “try and fail and try again and just learn stuff in a safe space.”
New Horizons also creates a support system for its members. “It’s not competitive like it was back in high school,” says Sharon Hawks, who joined the group recently. “Everyone is very encouraging. Everybody wants everybody to be the best.”
Many participants have been through similar challenges, such as losing a spouse and experiencing family problems.
“I’ve been through a lot of really hard things in the last 20 years,” reflects Pam Wily, longtime cellist in the orchestra. “During that two-hour rehearsal, you can just forget about . . . the worry and stress of problems in your life.”
Learn more about the New Horizons Orchestra on this episode of the Y Magazine podcast.
