Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
Youth Orchestras of San Antonio— YOSA — is building a home for both practice and performances. YOSA is made of hundreds of students, each with different levels of playing. Troy Peters is their music director, who explains why their musicians need a permanent home.
“They rehearse every weekend in multiple locations, and our office is in a completely different location,” Peters said.
“We purchased a property actually two years ago now in the summer of 2024, and we were able to buy what was the original home of Shearer Hills Baptist Church on Oblate Drive in San Antonio,” he said. “Construction began in May, and so we are now actively renovating this space to create a spot where we can teach and learn and rehearse and make music.”
He says their target date for moving in is in August or September of next year.
Peters said that the large facility is one where they can have multiple practices or performances in the same place at the same time. Those 11 different groups will be able to play in some of the larger, and some of the smaller rooms at the same time.
“This is a project we've been talking about for more than a decade,” he said. “We have 600 young musicians in 11 different groups.”
Rather than having parents take musicians to several practice locations, all the YOSA students will have one place to practice: YOSA Headquarters.
The logistics on having the different YOSA groups playing at different buildings was a big burden for YOSA students and the parents who support them.
“But at the core of it, it has been about unleashing possibility for young musicians to have great experiences,” Peters said. “A place where real impact is happening for young people who want to learn more about all kinds of music.”
While Peters expects that YOSA will perform events at their headquarters, their primary public venue will continue to be the Tobin Center. Still, he thinks with YOSA having a dedicated building will make them a part of something larger.
“They're going to feel that the city of San Antonio said we believe in YOSA, we believe in you, and every time they come to rehearsal, they will be in a place where they are at the center of the agenda, and the impact that has on teenagers is huge," Peters said.
