The Great Falls Youth Orchestra is hosting an alumni concert celebrating its 25th anniversary at 7 p.m. Jan. 2 in the Mansfield Theater.

Free tickets can be found by visiting www.gfsymphony.org.

Twenty-five years ago the city of Great Falls was seeking to create positive opportunities for young people and was in line with Music Director Emeritus Gordon Johnson’s goal of developing leadership skills in young adults through music and to provide training for future members of the Great Falls Symphony, according to the symphony.

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“I am so pleased to be part of this 25th anniversary celebration of the GF Youth Orchestra. Over the years we have had the privilege of making music with so many talented young adults. Although our mission has had ambitious implications, our goal was always to play music, have fun and make friends,” Johnson said in a release.

The Great Falls Youth Orchestra was created through the combined efforts of the Great Falls Symphony Association, Great Falls Public Schools, private schools, the City of Great Falls and private instrumental music teachers. The program has expanded and now includes a strings-only middle school ensemble called Sinfonia and a Youth Chamber Music Program for any instrumentalist that wants to take part.

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The current Great Falls Symphony Orchestra currently has many adult musicians who have come through the youth orchestra program. Several alumni have also served on the symphony’s board of directors and as staff of the symphony, according to the symphony.

Hillary Shephard, the symphony’s executive director, graduated from the youth orchestra in 2003 as well as our current youth orchestra program’s manager, Elizabeth Quinby.

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“I remember my first youth orchestra rehearsal, like it was yesterday. I was a freshman in high school and once I heard this powerful multitude of sounds coming from all the winds, brass, strings, and percussion all at once, I knew I was hooked for life,” Quinby said in a release.

Over the last 25 years, more than 800 young adults have gone through the program. These students, who come from as far north as Shelby and Havre and as far south as Helena, have benefited tremendously from this program.

Maestro Grant Harville is the current Youth Orchestra Director, a position he has held for the last five years.

“While Gordon has the privilege of reacquainting himself with musicians he’s known for 25 years, I have the joy of meeting many of them for the first time (and catching up with ones I do know). The program will be such a delightful celebration – can’t wait,” Harville said in a release.

People who have gone through the program currently live all over the U.S. and some are living, working and studying abroad.

Jayla Mitchell, a former cellist in the program says, “My time in the Great Falls Youth Orchestra was so valuable as a student and is valuable to me as a performance major in college. The opportunities to perform in a symphony orchestra and in chamber ensembles at such a young age is one of the reasons I pursued a career in music. Not only that, but I made so many friendships through this group. These are the kind of people you want to keep around for a lifetime,” Jayla Mitchell, who played the cello in the youth orchestra, said in a release.

Mitchell will be performing with the Great Falls Symphony as a soloist on Fecb. 12.

Keeping track of alumni has been a large endeavor and the symphony is asking the public to share information about the concert so any alumni who aren’t aware can participate. They’re asked to contact Elizabeth Quinby at elizabethquinby@gfsymphony.org for more information.