Floyd Central High School

     Floyd Central High School has had an orchestra since the school’s opening in 1968. Previous to that, there was an existing string program at Georgetown High School and New Albany High School, from which the students atFloyd Central were taken. The school’s first orchestra instructor was Virginia Ritter, who instructed the entire program grades 7-12. The program has over the years been instructed by Arnold Seligman, Susan Pfeifer, Rubin Sher, and Nancy Sher.Douglas Elmore became the FCHS Orchestra’s fifth director in 1986.
Floyd CentralHigh School serves an enrollment of 1,700 students in grades 9-12.The FCHS Symphony Orchestra is one of the most active high school string programs in Indiana, performingin many different areas and for different audiences.The orchestra has performed five times at the Clowes Hall “Honored High School Orchestras” concert, four times at the ButlerUniversity/Warren Central HS String Orchestra Festival, and seventeen times at the ISSMA State Finals for Orchestras. Many of the FCHS Orchestra students also participate in the LouisvilleYouth Orchestra and the Floyd County Youth Symphony,an extra-curricular audition based orchestra sponsored by the NAFC School Corporation.
Orchestra students from FCHS are also active at ISSMA Solo/Ensemble contests,All-State Orchestra auditions, and several summercamps and clinics.Now in its 39th year, the FCHS orchestra program has seen substantial and steady growth in both student participation and in musical quality. The FCHS/HHMS Orchestra program currently enrolls 240 string studentsin grades 6-12.The schools have seven string classes divided between high school and middle school. Both levels of the program are considered among the strongest in the state, having earned over forty Division I ratings at ISSMA festivals over the past fifteen years.