ENSEMBLES 2023

Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra

Founded in 1993, Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) has emerged as the premier training orchestra of Orange County, CA. Under the artistic direction and guidance of Pacific Symphony’s renowned music director, Carl St.Clair, and its current music director and conductor, Dr. Jacob Sustaita, PSYO is quickly being recognized as one of the most outstanding youth orchestras in the United States. Representing over thirty-four schools in the Southern California region, PSYO offers performance opportunities to instrumentalists in grades 9-12 and is one of four youth ensembles offered by the Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles program. PSYO provides members with an advanced and innovative artistic experience and strives to encourage musical and personal growth through the art of performance. Each season students enjoy an interaction with Maestro Carl St.Clair, as well as regular interactions with guest artists and professional musicians of Pacific Symphony. Students also engage in an annual weekend retreat and are offered free access to Pacific Symphony performances throughout the season. PSYO also enjoys international touring, including Bulgaria in 2011 and China in 2016, with a July 2023 tour of the Czech Republic and Austria upcoming. Each season PSYO presents a three-concert series, generously sponsored by individual donors and institutions. Members also participate in Side-by-Side performances with Pacific Symphony, where students perform in concert with their professional counterparts as part of Pacific Symphony’s Family Musical Mornings series. All performances take place at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The final performance of each season features performances by the winner(s) of PSYO's annual concerto auditions, for which auditions are exclusive to PSYO members. Weekly rehearsals are held at the University of California, Irvine between September and May each season, and members are selected through annual auditions each Spring.

Jacob Sustaita

Music Director and Conductor

Dr. Jacob Sustaita serves as the assistant conductor for Pacific Symphony and Pacific Symphony's Music Director, Carl St. Clair, a position he has held since the fall of 2020. Dr. Sustaita also serves as Music Director and Conductor for Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO), the premier training orchestra of Orange County, CA, recognized as one of the most outstanding youth orchestras in the country. Dr. Sustaita is also the newly appointed Orchestra Director for the Orange County School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra. In the fall 2021 and 2022, Sustaita served as Acting Director of Orchestras at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach (CSULB). From 2015 to 2020, he led the Sam Houston State University Symphony, Chamber, Ballet, and Opera Orchestras as Director of Orchestral Studies. In 2016, Sustaita and the Symphony Orchestra performed the American premiere of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 1 (original Linz version) with high praise from the American and European Bruckner Societies. Dr. Sustaita is a frequent guest conductor and clinician across the United States. In 2015, Sustaita was selected by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Institute to serve as assistant conductor for Charles Dutoit and the National Youth Orchestra of America (NYO). Sustaita regularly conducted and coached the orchestra during its New York residency and on their seven-city tour of China and Hong Kong. A native of Texas, Sustaita completed his Doctorate and Bachelor of Music degrees at the University of Houston, where he served as assistant conductor for the Moores Opera Center for three seasons. He also earned a Master of Music degree from both Penn State University and Rice University. His honors include: Schissler Conducting Fellowship, Rice University Prize and Provost Fellowship and American Prize semi- finalist and finalist. His teachers and mentors include Carl St.Clair, Charles Dutoit, Franz Krager, Brett Mitchell, Gerardo Edelstein, and Paavo Järvi.

Competition Program

Additional Concerts Program