West Michigan Symphony Debut Strings and Premier Strings

New Member Auditions will be held on January 6, 2025.
Please call to find out more and to schedule an audition time.

Any youth with 1-2 years experience are invited to audition.

Grow and build your playing abilities with youth from around West Michigan!

Contact:  Karen VanderZanden 231-726-3231 ext. 231, kvanderzanden@westmichigansymphony.org

Are you a young string musician looking for an opportunity to stretch yourself musically?  Do you love to play and perform and want more experience?  Want to be part of a professional arts organization?
Consider joining the Debut Strings or Premier Strings and contact us today for more information.

 

Weekly rehearsals take place at The Block in downtown Muskegon on Monday evenings beginning September 11, 2023.

5:30pm-6:45pm for Debut Strings  [1-2 years minimum string instrument experience]

7:00pm-8:30pm for Premier Strings [intermediate to advanced string instrument musicians]

For more information on how you can be a part of the 2023-2024 season contact Karen Vander Zanden, Director of Education at (231) 928-5738 or kvanderzanden@westmichigansymphony.org.

 

 

Debut Strings is a group designed to introduce beginning and intermediate students to large ensemble performance through challenging and diverse repertoire. Students in this group will need to have at least two years of playing experience and strong note reading skills. Debut Strings rehearses once a week throughout the fall and spring and performs two concerts annually at The Block in downtown Muskegon.

Premier Strings is our advanced string group. You must audition for this group and have intermediate to advanced playing skills. Premier Strings play in a side by side performance with the professional West Michigan Symphony Orchestra once each year.

For more information or to schedule an audition, call 231.928.5738 or e-mail Karen Vander Zanden at kvanderzanden@westmichigansymphony.org.

Debut Strings & Premier Strings Director Angela Corbin
Angela Corbin is the Orchestra Director at North Muskegon Public Schools. She earned her Masters in Music Education from Michigan State University. She has studied violin with Minghuan Xu at Grand Valley State University. She has also studied with Jean Manning of Muskegon and Stacey Woolley of the Cincinnati Symphony. As a private and class music instructor for over fifteen years, teaching music through string instruction has been one of Angela’s deepest passions. She currently teaches elementary vocal music and all levels of beginner strings and orchestra at North Muskegon. In the past, she taught for Fruitport Community Schools and Calvary Christian School, served on the boards of both the West Michigan Youth Symphony and the Education Committee of the West Michigan Symphony. She frequently serves as a church musician, and enjoys performing and recording with Christopher Cordle, Lakeshore Strings Quartet, The Fiction Writers and other local musicians. Angela lives in West Michigan with her husband, Ryan, and their two daughters, Maya and Sophia.

Debut String & Premier Strings Donors

Ann & Bud Eichmann Fund of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC)
Billie Klont Greinke Fund of the CFFMC
John L. Wheeler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the CFFMC

Michigan Arts & Culture Council
National Endowment for the Arts