As the calendar year comes to a close, we are kicking off our year-end giving campaign with four #impactstories from PYPO alumni and current students. PYPO has been a special place for all of them in different ways, and we’re excited to share their experiences with you.
For our first story, Community Engagement Coordinator Claire Gunsbury sat down to chat with PYPO Alum and Board Vice President Benjamin Landis. Ben is a longtime supporter of PYPO and has stayed active in the community since he graduated in 2011. He shares how PYPO played a part in helping him make life-long friends and musical memories he carries with him today.
For Ben Landis, PYPO Alum (Class of 2011) and current PYPO Board Vice President, youth orchestra was the perfect place to express his passion for music and make life-long friends in the process. Music can stay with us in many ways, and Ben has been able to carry his PYPO memories with him no matter where life has led.
His musical path began like that of many others. He picked up the clarinet in his school’s music program and enjoyed it from the very start. His first inspiration, however, came from his grandfather. “He played clarinet throughout his life,” Ben shared. “That was something that was a significant part of his life, as a source of recreation, de-stressing, etc. And I think that was a part of why I started to get into music.”
When Ben heard about PYPO from his high school music director, he was excited. Participating in PYPO would allow him to take part in both orchestra and concert/marching band – something that wasn’t possible at his school at the time. Although he was nervous for his PYPO audition, one of the adjudicator’s, George Lepsch, recognized the determination in his playing. “I can't remember verbatim what his comments to me were, but it was something to the effect of, ‘Hey, I can tell that you're nervous. I know you know you made some mistakes in your audition, but I wanted to give you a chance to see what you could do,’” Ben recalls. “So he let me in. I remember my first rehearsal being a little bit intimidated by it. There were lots of musicians there that were very, very good.”
Ben joined the Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007 when he was just a freshman in high school. Despite being one of the younger students in the group, he made friends quickly. One of those friends, Joe Mansfield, is someone Ben keeps in touch with to this day. Joe is now a professional clarinetist and music educator. Another, the first chair flutist at the time, went on to study music at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Performing Arts, and was a sort of mentor for Ben . “She was a senior, was very nice, and really helped me develop as a clarinet player,” he says.
Ben remembers holiday concert performances at PPG Place fondly, and performing “Memories” from the Cats the Musical. “We had a vocalist on stage with us, singing while we were playing. Yeah, that was a pretty cool experience.” Another standout for Ben was the European tour. He was part of the tour to Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest. “It was an amazing experience of traveling with these friends that you've made over several years, getting to see the sights in the cities.”
Ben’s career led him on to a degree in engineering, and he is now a Product Manager at EPIC Metals Corp in Pittsburgh. His passion for music extended beyond whether he became a professional musician or not, though. For him, playing an instrument was about connecting with others and staying in touch with the PYPO community. “I always felt that I had some good connections with fellow students that were younger than me. I've stayed in touch with several of them… I would come back and go to the winter concerts, the spring concerts, and that was always a really fun experience for me.” In 2019, Ben returned to PYPO to serve on the Board of Directors, and he was elected as the Vice President starting in the 2022-23 season.
Ben enjoys seeing current PYPO students learning and developing their musicianship as they move up in the ensembles. The range of repertoire students perform at the concerts is something he remembers well from his clarinet days. “PYPO really helped me add some breadth and diversity to my knowledge of music,” Ben reflects. An avid concert goer now, he attends musicals, operas, and other cultural events regularly. “I feel more connected to [music]. I can follow along in my head a little bit more, I think, than just a completely passive observer.”
PYPO was a place for Ben to explore music on a new level and do so in a like-minded group of peers. “It's not always possible or feasible to follow your passion directly, but I do think it's very important that you take it with you. I'm not a professional musician, even though I do love music. But it has been something that I've been able to take with me.”
Our mission at PYPO is to foster a life-long love of music through creativity, empathy, and excellence, and to create lasting relationships along the way. Ben’s story is just one of many in our thirty years of existence. Help make more stories like this possible by donating today! Head to pypo.org/donate to make a gift and help us reach our goal of raising $15,000 for our young musicians by December 31st.
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