While part of his day was filled with helping to run the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra last summer, the rest of Bowdoin senior Sam Kyzivat’s time was devoted to arranging more than a dozen scores for the orchestra’s young players.

Kyzivat’s labors came to life recently when thirteen of the fourteen pieces he arranged were performed by the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra (MYRO) when it played a big folk concert at the Portland House of Music and Events. On Dec.1, MYRO shared the stage with Bowdoin graduate Max Garcia Conover ’09, Connor Garvey, and The DuPont Brothers, performing twelve of Kyzivat’s songs.

MYRO, which was founded by Kevin Oates in 2014, is a small Portland-based nonprofit that offers classically trained musicians, ages 12 to 18, the chance to play live shows onstage with popular musicians, from indie bands to folk duos.

Up until Kyzivat’s internship, Oates had arranged all of the orchestral compositions for the young musicians. He bases his arrangements on original songs by bands that have agreed to collaborate with the young players. In this way, MYRO has played alongside such bands as Darlingside, Guster, The Ghost of Paul Revere, and Rustic Overtones.

But this summer, Kyzivat, a music major focused on composing, was able to lend his musical gifts to MYRO. He received a Delta Sigma Arts fellowship from Bowdoin to support him during his unpaid internship.

Listen to three of the songs MYRO played Dec. 1 (with arrangements by Kyzivat based on Connor Garvey’s and Max Garcia Conover’s original songs ):

“The Boat Will Carry Me Again No More” by Connor Garvey

Excerpt from “Old House” by Connor Garvey

“Grand Marquis” by Max Garcia Conover ’09

The fourteenth piece Kyzivat arranged, for MYRO and the Portland, Oregon-based folk duo Shook Twins, was performed in late September at One Longfellow Square.