If I could choose only a few concerts a year to attend, those by the Seattle Youth Symphony would have to be on the list.
It goes without saying this is a good orchestra by any standards, but what sets it apart is the excitement: You can feel it in the air at its concerts — in the audience with many family members and children who otherwise might not attend many performances at Benaroya Hall, but it’s most palpably on stage, where upwards of 115 young musicians, some of them very young, are performing great works of classical music for the first time.

Each piece is a premiere for them, and the energy they put out, the work they’ve put in, and the thrill of being part of a heritage of performance that goes back centuries combine to make every performance something special to hear.

Sunday’s final performance of the season at Benaroya was no exception. Music director Stephen Rogers Radcliffe pulled no punches in choosing the program. It included Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3, Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Death and Transfiguration,” and Ravel’s “Valses nobles et sentimentales” as well as his “La valse, poeme choreographique.”

None of the selections is easy. To perform Beethoven with a large orchestra and keep its transparency is a feat at any time, and they did it. The distant trumpet call (from the back of the top tier) sounded suitably heraldic, and there was particularly nice work from several sections. Strauss’ subject is a far cry for most of these kids, but Radcliffe kept the work balanced and shaped, while both Ravel works had a great sense of movement — exuberant, even rollicking at times, more sedate at others, but always giving the sense of swirling dance.

Radcliffe conducted throughout without score. He doesn’t appear to micromanage the orchestra, but it’s evident how well trained it is. Plucked string work was closely together, phrasing had flow.
Radcliffe asked for applause for all of the orchestra’s coaches at the end of intermission, which was enthusiastically given. The players voted by secret ballot for this year’s Inspirational Award, which went to concertmaster Benji Bae.