YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Victoria Eicher, President and Executive Director
Heather Barclay, Director (Percussive Wave)
Alyze Dreiling, Conductor Emeritus (Soloists Ensemble)
Ulli Reiner, Conductor Emeritus (Suzuki Strings)
Founded in 2004, the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO) addressed a need for a multi-level youth orchestra program in the North County. Fostered and co-founded by the talents and experience of Ulli Reiner, YPO brought Alyze Dreiling on board in 2012 to create the Soloists Ensemble. In 2014, Victoria Eicher joined YPO as Board President. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Eicher brought the City Heights Music School (CHMS), a program she had started under the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus in 2010, to YPO. In 2015, a Percussion Ensemble, directed by Heather Barclay, was added to the programming. After several award-winning seasons, the programs took a break during the pandemic with the exception of CHMS and Percussive Wave.
Read more about the Percussive Wave, below.
PERCUSSIVE WAVE
Heather Barclay, Director
Since 2015, Percussive Wave (formerly known as the award-winning YPO Palomar Percussion Ensemble), for advanced percussion players age 15-25, offers an opportunity to perform music from the vast array of percussion ensemble literature.
Click here for an interview with Director Heather Barclay in the San Diego Troubadour.
Heather Barclay is a professional percussionist and has been performing and teaching since 1984. Ms. Barclay earned her Bachelor of Arts, Performance and Certification of Music Education at The University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, WI and her Master of Fine Arts in Performance at United States International University in San Diego, CA. Her instructors include Linda Raymond Siegel, Tele Lesbines, Tatsuo Sasaki, Stanley Finck, and Raynor Carroll. Ms. Barclay is a freelance percussionist and tympanist in Southern California. She was the principal percussionist with the International Chamber Players and a substitute percussionist in the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Nova. She has also performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Civic Orchestra, the International Symphony Orchestra of Tijuana and the Tijuana Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Ballet, among numerous others. In addition, she has performed solo recitals in California, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Ms. Barclay is also a private instructor of percussion and tympani. She has been teaching since 1984 and has coached and conducted several award winning percussion ensembles along with drum lines for many high school marching bands. Along with Percussive Wave, she is currently teaching at Palomar College, and coaching at Westview High School and Mesa Verde Middle School. She maintains a very active studio in Poway, California.