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Auditions for the Meremblum Youth Orchestras are held by appointment during the month of
September in Fiesta Hall, Plummer Park, West Hollywood. For audition requirements, an application
and an appointment call Music Director Ginny Atherton (818) 249-1285.Students may request an audtion at any time, but may be invited to delay entry until the beginning of new session.

Since 1936 the Meremblum Youth Orchestras have trained musicians ages 8-18. String orchestra, full orchestra, chamber ensembles and music theory instruction are available to students. The orchestras meet Saturdays, throughout the year, in Plummer Park, West Hollywood.

In November 2002 and again in 2003, the orchestras performed side-by-side with the West Hollywood Orchestra under the direction of Nan Washburn: in 2002 Finlandia by Sibelius at the Pacific Design Center, and in 2003 Humperdinck's Prelude to Hansel and Gretel in the new auditorium of the Center for Early Education. In 2001 the young musicians sat in an open reading of Dvorak's 8th Symphony. In 2000 the Meremblulm Orchesstras "epened" for the WHO in a concert at Fairfax High.

Studying and performing Brahm's Variations on a Theme by Haydn from full score (Spring, 2003 ) the Pioneers and Junior Symhony Players were able to keep their personal copies of the Dover edition.

In 2001, after the events of 9/11, the Pioneers performed Dello Joio's Profiles in Courage March. Each member received a copy of John f. Kennedy's book Profiles in Courage as they contemplated varieties of courage.

December 2001 began our year-long 65th Anniversary Celebration of the founding of our orchestras.The orchestras collaborated with the Eagle Rock Community Cultural Center in May 2001. In addition to an afternoon concert for children, they performed at an evening fundraiser for the Center. The centerpiece of the evening concert was accompanying pianist Carl Matthes in a piano/percussion adaptation of Ravel's orchestration of Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Janice Shin, Brigitte Liebowitz and Jeff Conn performed Hovhaness' Concerto for flute and percussion at the CAPMT Convention in Pasadena, January 2000.

A highlight of the 1998-99 season was the collaboration of senior clarinetist/composer Robert Elfman with his orchestra friends. Robbie's Three Pieces for Woodwind Quintet, written in the Summer of 1998, was first performed that August. The pieces were entered in the High School Composition Competition sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association. Selected as the winner for the State of California, the quintet was performed in San Francisco by those same Meremblum musicians. After being declared the winner for the Southwest states, the pieces were adjudicated nationally and named 1st Runner-Up. Robbie finished his senior year (at Hamilton High, LA) by winning the Jazz category of the Music Center's Spotlight Competition. He graduated USC's Thornton School of Music in 2003 with a major in composition. Rob was with the Meremblum Orchestras for six years.

Clarinetists Robert Linder and Robert Elfman performed on the Honors Ensemble Recital at the state convention of The California Association of Professional Music Teachers in January 99 in San Francisco.

Young percussionist Danielle Goren-Hill enoyed three` consecutive seasons with the Disney Young Musicians' Orchestra.

During the 1997- 98 season the orchestras presented Adrienne Albert's Sunrise from her Suite for Orchestra Images with assistance of a grant from Meet the Composer Foundation. Ms. Albert rehearsed the students for six weeks and conducted the orchestra for the June 98 performance.

The orchestras performed the West Coast Premiere of "Peanuts Gallery" by Pulitzer Prize winning Ellen Taaffe Zwilich at Luckman Auditorium, Cal State, Los Angeles and at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood during August 1997.

The orchestras are sponsored by the California Junior Symphony Association, which is a member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras, the American Symphony Orchestra League and Chamber Music America.