This concert represents everything Memphis Youth Symphony Program (MYSP) stands for. It is the result of a full year of growth, discipline, and collaboration across all of our ensembles. From our youngest musicians to our most advanced soloists, and from traditional masterworks like Gershwin’s American in Paris to powerful new compositions, this finale celebrates not just what our students have achieved, but who they are becoming as artists, leaders, and members of our community.
Things to note!
- The 7pm concert also serves as the annual Concerto Competition performance, featuring two outstanding student soloists selected through a highly competitive audition.
- Violist Myles Martin, the 2026 Concerto Competition winner will perform Romanze, Op. 85 by Max Bruch with the Youth Symphony. Runner-up Emma Clark will perform Morceau de Concert by Camille Saint-Saëns with the Repertory Orchestra.
- The 7pm concert will also include the presentation of the inaugural Hugh and Shawn LeSure Alumni Award, honoring an MYSP alum who exemplifies outstanding artistic achievement, leadership, and service to the community.
- The MYSP Wind Ensemble (3:30pm concert) will perform Katahj Copley’s Amerykahn Graffiti, as part of a nationwide consortium premiere. The work reimagines Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition through a contemporary lens, drawing on hip-hop, gospel, funk, jazz, and other Black musical traditions to explore identity, resilience, and artistic expression.
- The Youth Symphony will also present its first-ever live film score experience, featuring original music composed by local composer J. Arthur Guy, paired with on-screen animation. This multidisciplinary collaboration expands the ensemble experience beyond the traditional concert format and offers students an opportunity to engage directly with media scoring and visual storytelling.
- Other pieces on the 7pm program include Gershwin’s An American in Paris, music from Bernstein’s West Side Story, and T.J. Cole’s Nightscape, creating a program that spans iconic orchestral repertoire, American musical theater traditions, and American contemporary orchestral music.
This blog was written by Jenny Davis
Jenny Davis is a musician, educator, and arts administrator from Memphis. A former MYSP flutist and board member, she is now honored to serve as the organization’s Executive Director while also teaching flute and chamber music at Rhodes College.
Jenny is a doctoral candidate in Flute Performance at the University of South Carolina and holds degrees from Boston University and Middle Tennessee State University, with additional study at the Trevor Wye Flute Studio in the UK. She has been a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, New Music on the Point, and the Cortona Sessions for New Music, and has been recognized in numerous national young artist competitions.
She is a co-founder of Blueshift Ensemble, a contemporary chamber music collective known for presenting new music in nontraditional spaces. Since 2017, Blueshift has collaborated annually with ICEBERG New Music and partnered with a wide range of artists across genres. Jenny also performs with projects including the experimental flute duo if.else and the Eudaimonia Flute Quartet, and she has frequently appeared with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was Director of Music Programming at Crosstown Arts, curating performances and supporting local and national artists.
Dedicated to collaborating with and performing music by living composers, she has commissioned and premiered new works with if.else, Blueshift Ensemble, and the Eudaimonia Flute Quartet. Outside of music, Jenny co-hosts the weekly radio show Sonosphere on WYXR, enjoys cycling, studying the Alexander Technique, and reading.
