Although they are united by a love of music, those who choose to play flute tend to be different personalities than percussionists or tuba players. And of course musicians come from different cultural and economic backgrounds as well. But, the Westside Community & Youth Orchestra (WCYO) takes these differences to an even greater extreme. The group lives up to its name, with members ranging from se
ven years old to those who’ve seen seven decades and more. The central figure in bringing all this diversity into a cohesive unit is Collin Heade, the Artistic Director/Conductor of the Westside Community & Youth Orchestra in Hillsboro. Heade, a prize-winning conductor, is also a cellist and performs as principal with the Oregon Chamber Players, Willamette Falls Symphony, and the Oregon Arts Orchestra, with whom he has toured in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Prague, Rome, and Venice. And yet, for all his world-class conducting and performance talent, Heade’s work with the WCYO is friendly and encouraging. He has high expectations for each performance, but at the same time, he understands this is not a group of professional musicians. About the Orchestra
The Westside Community & Youth Orchestra (originally named the Intel Orchestra) was founded in October 2007 by Intel engineer Rob Archibald to fill a need the Intel Singers had for a small orchestra for live accompaniment in concert. Over time, the orchestra grew to include Intel employees, family members and friends from diverse occupations and backgrounds, joined together by a common love for music. After eighteen months together, the orchestra decided to reach out to the community to expand. According to Archibald, “I'd learned that Hillsboro schools hadn't had an orchestra program for something like 30 years. Youth who wanted an orchestra opportunity had to go to Portland to participate in the larger youth orchestras, at significant time and financial sacrifice. Adults already had lots of community orchestra opportunities. So, we felt the best way to expand would be through youth, and the Westside Community & Youth Orchestra was born.”
Mentoring
“We started with about 12 string players. Last week at rehearsal, I counted about 50 players in strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion,” said Archibald. “Initially, adults would help to teach the youth the ropes of an orchestra, but as we've grown over the years, we now have about an equal number of youth as adults and the youth are now often mentoring the adults. It's been fun watching it grow over the years. And, while initially WCYO grew only through significant work getting the word out to schools, band teachers and private instructors, today we grow primarily through the excitement that our members have for the group. They tell their friends and we just keep growing.”
