Musical gateway: Spokane Youth Symphony celebrates 75 years

Harold Paul Whelan had a dream. Back in the late 1940s, he identified the need for a youth symphony in Spokane and set the instrumental wheels in motion to make that vision a reality.

Under Whelan’s initiative and direction, in 1949, the Spokane Junior Symphony was born. The group once included just 30 musicians and rehearsed in the KXLY radio-television building.

From humble beginnings come great things.

Known today as the Spokane Youth Symphony, this nonprofit organization now instructs more than 250 students from beginning to advanced levels. Led by artistic director and conductor Philip Baldwin, the program boasts four orchestras, including two string and two symphonic ensembles. The core mission of this fine-tuned operation is to provide exemplary orchestral education and performance opportunities for the youth of the Inland Northwest. For 75 years, it has been doing just that.

The perks of a musical background extend far beyond that concert stage. Those touched firsthand, say it is a gift which keeps on giving.

“We are so lucky to have this kind of a program … it brings you together with people within your discipline from all parts of Spokane,” said Logan Pintor, who was just an eighth-grader when he picked up his first trumpet and joined the Spokane Youth Symphony. “I met trumpet players and musicians from as far north as Deer Park, even some from Newport. I made so many great connections and friendships that still last to this date.”

Pintor emerged from his youth symphony experience as a changed person.

“It actually does transform your character along the way,” he said. “I was a beneficiary of that. These were programs that made me decide I could do well at this if I really applied myself and challenged myself to take that extra step.

“I was creating my own sort of voice in music that I didn’t see coming out in other areas of my life. Music is where I found myself the most,” added Pintor, who went on to earn musical degrees from Whitworth University and the Eastman School of Music in New York. He currently serves as development coordinator with the Spokane Symphony.

The camaraderie among young musicians runs deep.

“It’s a respectful environment which builds in them a desire to encourage others while also rising up to their own best. They learn time management, how to get things done, how to think in an organized way, how to take instructions,” said Jennifer O’Bannan. A violin and viola player with the Spokane Junior Symphony in the early 1970s, O’Bannan received a degree in music from Eastern Washington University and performed with the Spokane Symphony.

“There’s the teamwork that’s involved in playing where you’re not competing with everyone around you, but you’re creating one beautiful sound in collaboration together under the authority of a conductor or leader,” she said.

After raising her children, O’Bannan coached sectional groups for the youth symphony and worked as a support staff member. She “grew into” her position as executive director eight years ago.

It has been a labor of love.

“I knew it as a parent. I knew it as a teacher. I knew it as a participant myself … It was a good fit for me,” she said. “I’m kind of a passion-driven person, where I do things because I think it’s really important and not just because it pays.”

At the core of this musical endeavor is a local awareness and effort.

The Spokane Youth Symphony holds four seasonal concerts and a summer camp each year. Tuitions only cover half of the annual operating budget. Additional funds are raised through donations, grants and holiday wreath sales. Parents of students are asked to volunteer a nominal number of hours, but many go above and beyond to help out.

That’s the sort of giving spirit this group fosters.

The Spokane Youth Symphony will host its 75th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Alumni Concert at the end of this month. The event will feature a decades-deep roster of former artistic directors, conductors and students, including Pintor. He is helping to coordinate the festivities and sees this opportunity as a pivotal milestone on his never-ending musical journey.

“I had to pause for a moment and just reflect, because when I was a student in the youth symphony, I don’t think it really registered with me just how truly, what an icon this organization is in Spokane,” Pintor said. “As I’ve become more involved in the music scene here and trying to sustain these vital programs, it was just amazing for me to reflect on the fact that I’m a part of this legacy, a part of this history of an organization that is creating cultural diversity and cultural excellence in Spokane.”