1. Student information form

2. Register for Youth Orchestra

Audition for Bridges Philharmonic (for advanced middle and high school students)

BYO FAQ's

Bridges MAYO Orchestras

Juan Florez

Samuel J. Ivory

Bridges Chamber Orchestra

Our non-auditioned orchestra, directed by Chase Remsburg, is open to elementary and middle school string players ages 8-18.

Requirements: All players are expected to play one octave major scales and have fluent note reading skills. Student level ranges from one year of instruction through to Book 3 of Suzuki.

Programming: Each semester, Chamber musicians will work with a resident artist, learn music in a variety of styles (popular, music of various cultures, contemporary works), and play 1-2 pieces alongside the Bridges Philharmonic.

Emerging musicians: Gain large ensemble experience, learn orchestral playing, practice sight reading, and get support from professional musicians.

Older middle schoolers: Gain leadership opportunities and experience as section leaders, polish musical technique while developing as orchestral musician.

Advanced elementary students: Gain ensemble and note reading experience.

High School Ambassador: Several of our high school musicians opt to play in our non-auditioned Chamber orchestra, serving as our chamber orchestra leaders.

Bridges PhilharmoniC

The Philharmonic is an audition orchestra, directed by IU Jacobs Doctoral candidate, Wei-Chung Chen. It is open to all string, woodwind, brass, and percussion players in middle and high school.

Programming: Bridges Philharmonic will perform full orchestral pieces for strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.

High School Students: Musicians are able to experience the full orchestral experience: strings, winds, percussion, and piano.

Middle Schoolers: Musicians have a large advanced ensemble experience and learn from older peers.

Audition for Bridges Philharmonic

String

3 octave Major and minor scale

Solo piece

Brass/ Woodwind

2 octave chromatic scale

Solo piece

Percussion

Snare drum solo

Mallet solo

How do you support school instrumental programs?

Programs offered by Bridges Musical Arts Youth Organization are designed to be supplemental to school music programs. Our orchestra members participate in their school music programs whenever those are offered, and are encouraged to take advantage of a wide range of school musical activities. In addition to need-based scholarships, we invite area public school directors to nominate students in their ensembles for scholarships.

Meet our Bridges Youth Orchestra Directors:

Juan Florez

Juan Florez is an emerging Colombian-American conductor whose work combinesartistic leadership with a commitment to expanding access to orchestral music. He wasrecently appointed a Conducting Fellow with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and isthe founding Artistic Director of the Collective Chamber Orchestra, an internationalensemble dedicated to creating opportunities for musicians and audiences throughout theAmericas.

Florez has been recognized internationally, most recently as a semifinalist in the 6thInternational Conducting Competition of the University of Almería and as the Gold Prizewinner of the 2025 Georges Bizet International Music Competition. He is also committed todeveloping meaningful relationships between orchestras and their communities. He willserve as the newly appointed Music Director of the Bridges Musical Arts Youth Organization(MAYO) program in Bloomington, Indiana, and as Principal Conductor with PurdueUniversity’s orchestras in Spring 2027 in West Lafayette, Indiana.
A strong advocate for expanding access to orchestral music in Latin Americancommunities, Florez has conducted ensembles throughout Central America, including theTegucigalpa Symphony Orchestra and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Honduras, as well as theFestival Internacional La Centro in Guatemala City, Guatemala, where he served as PrincipalConductor. Through the Collective Chamber Orchestra, he has also led performances,masterclasses, and side-by-side educational programs in underserved communities acrossGuatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica. His work reflects a desire to use orchestral music as ameans of artistic exchange and community building.
An active violinist, Florez has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony, OcalaSymphony Orchestra, and Coastal Symphony of Georgia, and has appeared in performanceswith major ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His experiences with the LAPhil and its music director, Gustavo Dudamel, were particularly influential in his decision topursue a career in conducting.
Florez is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in OrchestralConducting at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studies conductingwith Jeffery Meyer, Arthur Fagen, and Thomas Wilkins. He holds a Master’s degree inOrchestral Conducting from the University of Florida, where he studied with Dr. Tiffany Lu,as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance and a Master of Science inManagement with a concentration in Arts Administration. He also studied conducting withDr. Lu at the Pierre Monteux School and Music Festival for four summers, serving as anOrchestral Assistant in 2025 and 2026. His conducting studies have also included a varietyof masterclasses with world-renowned conductors, such as Tito Muñoz, LinaGonzalez-Granados, Ludovic Morlot, Ming Luke, Fawzi Haimor, Jeffery Meyer, and ArthurFagen.

Samuel J. Ivory

Bridges MAYO Chamber Director

Constantly inspired by the possibilities of music-making, Samuel J. Ivory is a conductor from Grand Rapids, Michigan, currently based in Bloomington, Indiana. Having a wide range of interests ranging from baroque performance, to multimedia music composition, he values engaging with music from a variety of styles – all informing himself as a conductor and musician.

Passionate about music education, Sam strives to inspire the next generation of musicians. He is an active music theory tutor and teacher, and previously held the position of Music Director for the Intermediate Orchestra at the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestras.

Sam is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Music in Orchestral Conducting at Indiana University studying under Arthur Fagen, Jeffery Meyer and Thomas Wilkins. He received a Masters of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of British Columbia and Bachelors of Music in Composition from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. His previous conducting mentors include Dr. Jonathan Girard, Dr. Chung Park, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Steven Amundson.

Outside of music, Sam enjoys long runs, hiking, reading, and photographing antique farm equipment.

Maggie Olivo

Program Director and Coach

Maggie Polk-Olivo is the music teacher and arts coordinator at Fairview Elementary School, a school for the arts and home to the IU Jacobs Fairview Violin Project. She serves as the Bridges Musical Arts Youth Organization's program director, Jacobs Academy's IU Musical Beginnings director, and is the founder and director of the BloomingSongs project.

In addition to teaching, she is a composer and has had recent works performed by The Amity Trio, members of the Southwest String Quartet, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and Tucson Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, she teaches music composition and chamber music for the Bridges MAYO day camps and then makes her way to Colorado to join the faculty at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park.

Local string teacher, Sarah Strickland explains the value of our Bridges Youth Orchestra

Connects peers from diverse backgrounds, spanning public, charter, private, and homeschool settings and ages span, 8-18.
Serves a variety of levels, beginner through advanced.
Offers high student-teacher ratio, utilizing multiple conductors, coaches, and Music Ed practicum students, providing personalized support and making it more like a side-by-side experience!
Has faculty who care about helping each individual student reach their personal potential.
Helps students learn music from diverse time periods, styles, and composers.

IU Jacobs Practicum Students:

Bridges MAYO partners with IU Jacobs School of Music as a practicum placement for future instrumental music educators studying at Jacobs. During our rehearsals, IU students have hands on rehearsal experiences as they work with young musicians.

Bridges MAYO students benefit from the small teacher to student ratio, playing alongside incredible musicians, and meeting one on one with teachers as needed.

Throughout each rehearsal, our musical directors and staff provide support and feedback to the practicum students and their professors.

2021: Sounds of Spring

"Primula," composed by Nukiko Nishimura

Performed by the Bridges MAYO Youth Orchestra, spring 2022, conducted by Marissa Guarriello

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