This fall, the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra is launching a youth orchestra for musicians ages 14 to 18, and auditions will be held Aug. 28 and Sept. 4.

Anthony Parnther, who became music director and conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony in 2019, had spoken of his dream for a youth orchestra in San Bernardino when he was a candidate for the music director position in 2017, according to a news release.

It has taken several years for that dream to come to fruition, partly because the COVID-19 pandemic shut down performances in 2020, soon after Parnther became the San Bernardino Symphony’s music director.

The first step toward a full youth orchestra with strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, harp and keyboard came in 2022 when Nicholas Bratcher, a former symphony board member who was then head of bands at Cal State San Bernardino, suggested forming a youth wind ensemble.

That group began with 17 students rehearsing in space donated by San Bernardino Valley College and by the time Bratcher left San Bernardino for a position in another state, the San Bernardino Symphony’s Youth Wind Ensemble had grown to 77 members, according to the news release.

Building on the foundation of the Youth Wind Ensemble, the symphony has established the San Bernardino Symphony Youth Orchestra, with Lucy Lewis, professor of violin and viola and director of orchestral studies at Cal State San Bernardino, as director. Lewis is also a former board member of the San Bernardino Symphony and substitute orchestra player.

Serving as assistant conductor will be Veronica Manzanera, a San Bernardino native and recent graduate of Cal State San Bernardino who was principal oboist of the university’s symphony orchestra.

Auditions for the San Bernardino Youth Symphony Orchestra will be held 4-8 p.m. Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 in North Hall on the San Bernardino Valley College campus, 701 S. Mount Vernon Ave.

Auditions must be scheduled at sanbernardinosymphony.org/symphony-youth-orchestra. Deadlines to sign up for auditions are 11:59 p.m. the day before each audition date.

Auditioners must be student musicians 14 to 18 years old from the Inland Empire, Coachella Valley and surrounding areas. Auditions will be held for flute and piccolo, clarinet and bass clarinet, oboe and English horn, bassoon and contrabassoon, alto and tenor saxophone, French horn, trumpet, tenor and bass trombone, euphonium, tuba, percussion, harp, keyboard, violin, viola, cello and double bass.

For audition requirements and the orchestra’s 2024-25 schedule, go to sanbernardinosymphony.org/symphony-youth-orchestra.

Orientation for those accepted will take place on Sept. 8. After that, rehearsals will be 2-5 p.m. Sundays at Valley College, and the orchestra’s first concert will be Dec. 15 at Valley College.