David Joaceus, 15, from Miami practices on his French horn during practice for the joint concert between the Greater Miami Youth Symphony Concert Orchestra and Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County. CHRIS CUTRO/For the Miami Herald

By SALVATORE FAZIO

When Sara Arevalo started playing the violin at 8, she learned to express her feelings through the emission of sound. Now at 13, she is exploring a new facet of her musical growth: being part of an orchestra through the Greater Miami Youth Symphony.

"It’s going to be exciting to play with the orchestra," said Arevalo during a recent Sunday afternoon rehearsal. "It’s kind of a new way to expand my horizons."

Arevalo will be one of more than 300 of South Florida’s most promising young musicians who will take the stage at Florida International University’s Wertheim Performing Arts Center on Sunday when the Greater Miami Youth Symphony and the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County join forces for their third annual Youth Orchestra Collaboration Concert.

The concert:

* Florida International University Wertheim Performing Arts Center, 11200 S.W. Eight St., Miami

* 4 p.m. Sunday, March 21

* $15 adults, $7 seniors and students; available only at the door

Greater Miami Executive Director Melissa Lesniak, 32, said the concert will showcase six segment orchestras from both groups playing side by side to take on a musically diverse program.

The six segment orchestras, coupled on an experience-level basis, will perform works ranging from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s "1812 Overture" and Antonin Dvorak’s "New World Symphony" to Leroy Anderson’s "Bugler’s Holiday" and Ted Rickets’ arrangement of "Satchmo: A tribute to Louis Armstrong."

Manuel Capote, 58, Palm Beach County’s music director, suggested "Satchmo" as a concert program selection to complement traditional symphonic music with New Orleans Dixieland Jazz, which extols instruments like the trumpet, trombone and clarinet.

"It’s very much a tribute to Louis Armstrong’s famous hits within a symphonic context," Capote said.

Capote and Greater Miami music director Huifang Chen, who have known each other for 16 years and have been colleagues as part of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, started planning out some of the concert’s program in January.

"We wanted to do something a little different," Chen, 40, said. "In deciding the program, we wanted to contrast some of the old with some new things."

Capote said this experience is invaluable for young music students who learn not only through their conductors and individual practice, but also through collaborating with other musicians.

"It’s a chance for kids to blend together and socialize, and it’s also a chance for my kids to work with Huifang [Chen] and for her kids to work with me," he said.

Barbara Santana, 14, from Kendall makes her flute sing during practice for the joint concert between the Greater Miami Youth Symphony Concert Orchestra and Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County. CHRIS CUTRO/For the Miami Herald

French hornist Amanda Gomez, 17, is a Boynton Beach resident and attends Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. High School of the Arts in West Palm Beach. She will be part of the orchestra performing Sibelius’ "Finlandia," Dvorak’s "New World Symphony," and "Satchmo: A tribute to Louis Armstrong."

"For musicians, it’s important to be able to collaborate with everybody and to do it quickly," Gomez said. "Not every conductor will want you to play the same way."

Eugene Timmons, 55, Greater Miami band director, said that each of the orchestras rehearse individually until hours before the concert. Then, all of the orchestras will rehearse with their respective partner orchestras for the first time.

"We are practicing the songs that they want to play, and they are practicing the songs that we want to play. Then we combine it as a side-by-side concert," said Timmons. "It’s a big thing," he said.

Both Lesniak and Capote see this opportunity to work together as a connection to their musical past.

"It’s great for me to do this collaboration because I was in the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County when it first started in 1994," Lesniak said. "It’s cool to get to combine with people that belong to a place where I used to be a student."

Capote, who grew up in Miami and was a member of the Greater Miami Youth orchestra during the 1960s, agrees.

"Melissa [Lesniak] is an alumnus of YOPBC while I am an alumnus of the GMYS," he said. "Now she’s down there and I’m up here. It’s a small world."

Luc-Olivier Vaval, 12, plucks the strings on his cello during practice. CHRIS CUTRO/For the Miami Herald