Love at first sound: How Omaha Area Youth Orchestras fosters lifelong learning and community connection

By Noah Johnson

Cassie Fritch remembers carrying her flute into her first Omaha Area Youth Orchestras practice as a child without ever really knowing what she was getting involved in.

Fritch, a Papillion, Nebraska native, joined the program after learning about it from her band teacher. The school didn’t have a strings program, so she had never been exposed to the large multi-instrument ensemble that orchestral music provided.

She didn’t know what she was walking into, but from her first moments in OAYO, Fritch was hooked.

Years later, Fritch now serves as manager of youth music programs and operations at OAYO.

The program has been a mainstay in the Omaha musical community since its inception in the 1950s. In 2024, it joined the University of Nebraska at Omaha School of Music.

OAYO offers orchestral music experiences to over 200 students grades 3-12 annually. Those experiences are broken up into five ensembles, including:

• Youth Symphony;
• Youth Philharmonic;
• Youth Concert Strings;
• Chamber Music Program; and
• Prelude Strings.

Fritch said OAYO’s goal is to expose Omaha’s youth to classical music while removing the cost barrier that typically accompanies it.

“Classical music is a world that has a huge cost barrier, and that’s something that I personally see is a problem that should not exist,” Fritch said.

OAYO is closing that gap thanks to scholarship support provided to the program through the UNO Fund. This year, around 20 percent of students involved in OAYO receive some form of scholarship support, Fritch said.

That support allows students to continue growing as musicians through OAYO without their families worrying about the cost of the program.

For Fritch, hearing from families about the impact OAYO has on the students participating in the program has been music to her ears. She said the success of this program isn’t possible without the continued support of donors.

“It’s honestly just so touching that we can provide this opportunity to these students, and we’re so thankful,” she said. “These contributions, no matter how big or small, all make it so we can make sure that door is open to any student that wants to participate.”