JAPAN TOUR 2026
Colorado Springs Youth Symphony
Founded in 1980 to provide musical opportunities for talented junior high students in Colorado Springs School District 11, the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association (CSYSA) began with 70 musicians and one concert. Today, CSYSA includes ten ensembles—ranging from beginning strings to advanced jazz, wind, and full orchestras—and serves about 350 students each year through auditions. The Mozart String Project adds another 150 beginning string students at sites across the city. In all, more than 500 young musicians from over 60 schools across the Pikes Peak region, including Pueblo, Limon, Castle Rock, Peyton, and Cañon City, participate in CSYSA programs. The Association’s mission is to inspire young musicians to lead, grow artistically, and share exceptional music that connects cultures. The Association presents more than 60 performances each year across regional, national, and international stages. Its educational program includes music camps, performance tours, leadership classes, a solo competition, chamber ensembles, exposure to the full range of orchestral literature, and community partnerships. It was during a tour to New Zealand that the organization adopted its motto from a Maori tribesman, “Through Music We Are One.”
Japan Concert Dates
Kanade (to Play Music, Poetic)
- Yokohama Minato Mirai
- June 3, 2026 at 6:30 PM
- Tickets
A Musical Voyage
- Fujisan Hall, Fujiyoshida
- June 4, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Repertoire
Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall
Selections from the following:
- John Williams – Olympic Spirit
- Franz von Suppe – Light Cavalry Overture
- Camille Saint Saens – Rondo Capriccioso for Violin
- Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov – Russian Easter Overture
- Natalia Hatzopoulou – Odyssey
- Antonin Dvorak – Symphony #9, The New World
- Eric Ewazen – Fantasy for Orchestra and Taiko
- John Williams – Duel of the Fates
- Dmitri Kabalevsky – Galop from The Comedians
Fujiyoshida
Selections from the following:
- John Williams – Olympic Spirit
- Franz von Suppe – Light Cavalry Overture
- Camille Saint Saens – Rondo Capriccioso for Violin
- Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov – Russian Easter Overture
- Natalia Hatzopoulou – Odyssey
- Antonin Dvorak – Symphony #9, The New World
- Eric Ewazen – Fantasy for Orchestra and Taiko
- John Williams – Duel of the Fates
- Dmitri Kabalevsky – Galop from The Comedians
The Conductor
Gary Nicholson, music director of the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association and conductor of its top orchestra, co-founded the organization in 1980. Mr. Nicholson came to Colorado Springs in 1976 after graduating from Wichita State University, Magna cum Laude, with degrees in Music Education and Music Performance with honors. Upon arrival in Colorado Springs, Mr. Nicholson began teaching in School District 11 and playing trumpet with the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra. As a trumpeter, Mr. Nicholson has performed with the Aspen Music Festival, the Wichita Symphony, the Colorado Opera Festival, the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, the Colorado Springs Chorale, Music Theater of the Rockies, the Fine Arts Center Repertory Theater, the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.
Mr. Nicholson has also performed with Abendmusik, a professional level vocal ensemble. Mr. Nicholson has served as a guest conductor/clinician in Wisconsin, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Japan, and Australia. From 1995 to 1998, he was the Music Director and Conductor of the Colorado College Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Nicholson has led the Youth Symphony on tours to New York City, Washington D.C., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and China. The Youth Symphony has performed in such prestigious venues as the Mozarteum in Salzburg (2000), the Kennedy Center (2001), Carnegie Hall (2005, 2016), Sydney Opera House (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2018, 2024), Shanghai Oriental Art Center (2008), and the National Concert Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria (2012).
In 2000, the Youth Symphony received First Place in the Full Orchestra category at the International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria. In addition to his work with the Youth Symphony, Mr. Nicholson is a strong proponent of music education, retiring in 2014 after 26 years of teaching band and orchestra in Colorado Springs School District #11 and Cheyenne Mountain School District #12. In 2009, Mr. Nicholson was selected by the Greenberg Center for Learning and Tolerance as one of the top 100 “residents whose vision and actions have made a difference in the development of this great city from 1871 to 2009”.
In 2010 and 2015, Mr. Nicholson was the Keynote Speaker for Tri-M members (high school musicians/leaders) at the annual Colorado Music Educators Association conference. In 2016, Mr. Nicholson was awarded the ‘Bee an Arts Champion’ award presented by the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, and in 2020, he was honored for his 40 years of artistic leadership in the community. In 2023, after 47 years of performing, Mr. Nicholson retired from the Colorado Springs Philharmonic trumpet section. Mr. Nicholson and his wife, Donna Sheldon, enjoy living in Colorado Springs, have a son and daughter-in-law, Aaron and Kaori, a grandson Atlas, and a miniature dachshund, Gracie. Outside of the world of music, he enjoys time with family, traveling, skiing, reading, landscaping/gardening, hiking, camping, and great food.
About the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony
Started in 1980 as a small junior high school orchestra performing only one concert, who could have foreseen that, led by founder Gary Nicholson, the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association would grow into one of the Premier Youth Orchestra Programs in the country? Now, in our 46th year, the CSYSA features ten large Auditioned Ensembles, many high-level Chamber Music Groups, and a strong introductory grade school program.
It has long been the Mission of the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association:
To inspire young musicians in the Pikes Peak Region to become future leaders, to provide artistic and personal development as well as diverse musical experiences for young musicians, and to collaboratively create and share excellent music that bridges cultures and communities. We are the most comprehensive instrumental music program for youth in this part of the country. Our mission compels us to provide Artistic Development through high quality, diverse music experiences that enrich the cultural environment here in the Pikes Peak Region and around the world. Our growing roster of Youth Music Ensembles uses the life-altering power of musical performance to connect with audiences, playing for many thousands of Children and Adults yearly, including many audiences that have little or no exposure to live orchestral music.
Great Young Citizens Making Great Music
Audiences and music professionals alike, here and across the world, agree on the exceptional music quality of the CSYSA groups. The Manager of the Sydney Opera House said: “Here listening to the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, I can close my eyes, and it might be any top City Orchestra in the World.”
Best of the Springs!
CSYSA is proud of its long history of earning the TOP AWARDS in the Gazette’s ‘Best of the Springs’
competition in the Non-Profit Arts Groups Category.