Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra

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courtesy WYSO

A Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras percussion ensemble.

media release: The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Percussion Ensemble performs its 2023 Percussion Extravaganza concert at 1:00 pm, Saturday, April 22, at the McFarland Performing Arts Center.

The Ensemble includes students from various WYSO orchestras, and is led by Director Vicki Peterson Jenks.

This year’s theme is “Joy Abounding!” and the audience will hear a variety of music styles, plus the world premiere performances of two pieces: Not Yours, But Ours, commissioned by WYSO and written by composer Elizabeth Gartman; and Drum Talk, by composer and WYSO Percussion Pilots Director Bradley Fremder.

Collaborators are WYSO’s Percussion Pilots, pax duo, two UW-Madison percussion ensembles, and Charanga Agozá. Guest artists include Yanzel Rivera, vocals, and Jessie Strutzel, flute.

Ms. Jenks has led the WYSO Percussion Ensemble for the past 42 years. She will receive the Rabin Youth Arts Award for her outstanding long-term commitment to Youth Arts in Wisconsin, at the concert. The purpose of the award to is recognize an individual (or organization) who, over time, has created a tremendous impact on youth arts in Wisconsin.

For the second consecutive year, WYSO is partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County to collect donations on their wish list, and provide a percentage of ticket sales to the organization.

Concert tickets are $15 for adults, and $10 for youth 18 and under. Purchase at wysomusic.org or the box office 30 minutes prior to the concert.

Also: The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will present its 2022 Rabin Youth Arts Award to Vicki Peterson Jenks for her outstanding long-term commitment to Youth Arts in Wisconsin.

The award will be given during the WYSO Percussion Extravaganza Concert. Ms. Jenks, Director of the WYSO Percussion Ensemble, will receive the esteemed award in front of the concert audience, and the event is open to the public.

Each year, the Rabin Youth Arts Award Committee of the WYSO Board solicits nominees for a special award named after WYSO Founder Marvin Rabin. The purpose of the award to is recognize an individual (or organization) who, over time, has created a tremendous impact on youth arts in Wisconsin.

One of Ms. Jenks’s greatest teaching passions has been guiding the WYSO Percussion Ensemble for the last 42 years. Under her direction, the Ensemble has received national recognition from the Percussive Arts Society and has performed for the Wisconsin State Music Conference, the National Band Association, North Central MENC, and the prestigious Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

“You would be impressed if this tribute were to cover Vicki’s extensive resume spanning more than four decades with WYSO, and also a remarkable legacy of national and international initiatives throughout her professional career,” said Mike George, WYSO Board of Directors Life Trustee. “But she will tell you that the impact closest to her heart is reflected by the many young musicians she has worked with in her studio, at workshops and camps, and with the WYSO percussion program.”

A native North Dakotan, Ms. Jenks received her musical training at Minot State University, UW-Stevens Point, and Baylor University. In 1976, she founded the percussion program at The University of Texas at El Paso. Upon her move to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1980, Ms. Jenks created and developed the education department at Ward-Brodt Music Store, one of the Midwest's premiere retail music stores. Under her guidance, student enrollment increased from 20 to 400 in just three years.

As an active freelance percussionist, Jenks performed for 10 years with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and 22 years as Principal Timpanist with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She serves as Master Adjudicator for the Wisconsin School Music Association. From 1985-2005, she owned and operated Jenks Music Studio, Wisconsin's largest private percussion studio. As a result of studying Jenks's "Total Percussive Musicianship" curriculum, her students perennially filled the percussion sections of Wisconsin honors bands and orchestras, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, and Carnegie Hall's National Wind Ensemble. Jenks Music Studio alumni hold top positions in orchestras and at universities around the globe.

In 2008, Vicki received the Percussive Arts Society's Lifetime Achievement in Education Award, the highest recognition presented to any percussion educator in the world, and was inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame. She is the 2023 recipient of the Association of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestras Service to Music Award, an annual honor given to an individual who has had significant impact on music in Wisconsin for an extended period.