Hawai‘i Youth Symphony believes that music education should reach every corner of Hawaiʻi (not just the communities where access already exists). The Orchestral Learning Alliance (OLA) is one way we work to make that happen.
OLA is a partnership founded by Hawai‘i Youth Symphony (through its Pacific Music Institute) and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F) at the University of Maryland: two leaders in music education working across thousands of miles toward a shared goal: ensuring that world-class music education is accessible to more of our community.
As NOI+F Director Richard Scerbo puts it, “I’m not really aware of any two other organizations doing the type of work that NOI and HYS are doing. We’re bringing together two leaders in the world of music education — one focusing on college students and one focusing on elementary, middle, and high school students. Even though we are thousands of miles away, we’re working together to create a bold and bright future for musicians in this country.”
How OLA Works
At the heart of OLA are Teaching Fellows: exceptional pre-professional musicians selected through NOI+F’s intensive training program who come to Hawaiʻi to teach, mentor, and connect. These are young professionals at a unique point in their own journeys, who are accomplished enough to model what a musical career looks like, and close enough in age to the students they serve to make that vision feel genuinely within reach.
OLA Teaching Fellows work alongside HYS and PMI students at key points throughout the year, travel to neighbor islands to bring music directly to underserved communities, and lead B# = C Success workshops (free, public events where they share their own experiences navigating higher education, conservatory auditions, financial aid, and the many paths a musical life can take).
This peer-to-peer mentorship model is intentional. As HSO and Royal Hawaiian Band musician Gabe Cruz observes, “You have your students of the [Hawaiʻi] Youth Symphony, you have professionals like Maestro Stepec and myself, then the bridge in between is these students that are going to the best schools and sitting in. They’re not that much older than the HYS students.” That bridge turns an abstract future into something a student can actually picture for themselves.
Music That Travels to the Community
Geography has always been one of the biggest barriers to music education in Hawaiʻi. OLA Teaching Fellows help break that barrier down. In addition to their work at PMI’s summer intensive and HYS’ Symphony Program on Oʻahu, Fellows travel to neighbor islands to conduct outreach in communities that have historically had limited access to specialized music instruction. The goal is simply to bring music to students and communities, rather than requiring them to come to a concert hall to experience live music.
A Pipeline Built on Purpose
OLA is designed to create lasting change, not just a single summer of impact. By investing in collegiate musicians who are deeply committed to both musical excellence and educational equity, HYS helps to develop a generation of music educators who will carry this mission forward in Hawaiʻi and beyond.
Many OLA Teaching Fellows are themselves products of programs that took a chance on them. Now they’re paying that investment forward. As past OLA Teaching Fellow and Maui-born HYS alumna Kisa Uradomo reflects, “As a college student now, I hope to eventually come back here as often as I can and spread the importance of music education.”
The spirit of returning, giving back, and growing the ʻohana is what OLA is all about.
Why It Matters
We’ve said it many times and will say it many more: we believe music is a right. OLA is one of the most direct expressions of that belief. It’s a program that asks not just how we can serve the students in front of us, but how we can reach the ones who haven’t found us yet. As HYS Director of Orchestral Activities, YSI Conductor & PMI Artistic Director Joseph Stepec puts it, “This is all about what HYS and PMI stand for. It’s a way for us to foster growth through music.”
When young people across Hawaiʻi have access to world-class music education, entire communities benefit. “HYS and NOI developed OLA together to help build a future for music in Hawaiʻi and beyond,” says our President & CEO Randy Wong, himself both an alumnus of HYS and NOI. “Orchestras are vibrant community organizations, ones that are vital to building resilient and culturally responsive communities. OLA is how we scale that impact, one community, one fellow, one student at a time.”
Proud partners of OLA include: