Spokane Youth Strings
At the Spokane Youth Strings level, personal and musical skills that the parent and the private teacher have encouraged are validated through the new orchestra experience. Students participate in their school orchestra programs, helping them to be prepared for participation in Strings. An entrance audition is required in which the student performs a short solo selection and the required study piece, and scales. The Strings students play at early intermediate to intermediate skill levels.
The Spokane Youth Strings rehearses on Monday evenings, 6:00-8:00 p.m., from September through May. Location: Manito Presbyterian Church, 401 E 30th Ave.
Conductor (One-year appointment), Spokane Youth Strings
Hannah Reitz
Hannah Reitz enjoys a varied career as violinist, violist, conductor, and educator. Committed to working with the next generation of musicians, Hannah is in-demand as a clinician and coach, having worked with various youth orchestras and honors ensembles around the country. Recent appointments include assistant conductor of the Bellevue Youth Symphony, guest conductor of the 2024 Rhode Island Senior All-State Orchestra, 2026 SJMEA junior festival and NEMEA festival. As a new transplant to Spokane, she joins the Spokane Symphony’s first violin section after previously serving for three years as music director of Illini Strings at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and assistant director of the University of Illinois Philharmonia Orchestra, a coordinator and lead teacher with the Illinois Community Music Academy, and Assistant Director of the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to her time in Illinois, Hannah was a Resident Artist of Violin/Viola and Lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, Assistant Director of the UNH Youth Symphony Orchestra, cover conductor for Symphony New Hampshire, and Adjunct Professor at Doane College in Nebraska. As a violinist and violist, Hannah has performed with the Pierre Monteux School Festival, AIMS in Graz Festival Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Lincoln Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Symphony New Hampshire, Sinfonia da Camera, and Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, she has been featured in chamber and orchestral performances with Awadagin Pratt, Chen Yi, and Yo-Yo Ma. Outside of music, Hannah loves to spend time with her husband and two dogs (Béla Barkdog and Queen Charles) in the outdoors, play frisbee, and cook large feasts for friends.