By invitation

Elite String Ensemble (ESE)

A small, highly advanced string group drawn from YSE and select JSE players, invited by the Music Director.

Portrait · an Elite String player, close on hands and instrument

About the program

Small, advanced, and invited.

The Elite String Ensemble consists of advanced string players of the Young Symphonic Ensemble and select Junior Symphonic Ensemble members by invitation of the Music Director. This small but highly advanced ensemble was established in 2006, and it is featured several times a year in community outreach performances and COS concerts.

Members of ESE have had opportunities to collaborate and perform with COS faculty musicians. The repertoire of the ESE consists of exciting works for string ensembles by such masters as Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Grieg, Respighi, and Bach.

At a glance

ESE

Entry

By invitation of the Music Director

Drawn from

YSE strings and select JSE members

Established

2006

Meets

Saturdays, 3:00 to 4:30pm

Conductors

Michael Dadap and Adrian Gutiérrez

Room

Orchestra Room 2

Performs

Several times a year, including community outreach

Times, room, and faculty are from the published 2025-26 Saturday schedule and are rechecked each season.

See the whole Saturday

Wide · Elite String Ensemble in a small-group setting

An Elite String player, close on hands

How to be considered

There is no audition for ESE.

Unlike every other ensemble at COS, you cannot audition for the Elite String Ensemble. Members are invited by the Music Director from among advanced string players already in YSE, and occasionally from JSE.

The route in, then, is the ordinary one: audition, join an orchestra, and keep playing. Invitations come from what faculty hear week to week.

An Elite String player, close on hands

Start where everyone starts.

ESE players all arrived through the regular ensembles first. Every child auditions, and no child is turned away.

Start with an audition

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