Meet the YSO

Jeremy Abbott is the YSO’s principal horn. He has played with the YSO for several seasons and was first introduced to the orchestra by our flautist Wanda Monks. In addition to YSO, Jeremy has played with Vivo Sinfonicta, a chamber orchestra based in Ann Arbor, the Plymouth Community Band, the Belleville community band and a local woodwind quintet.

Jeremy began playing the French horn in fifth grade and made music his career by earning a bachelor’s degree in music from Evergel University in Springfield, Missouri.
When he is not playing in a music group, Jeremy teaches elementary music education at Tyler Elementary in the Van Buren public schools. He also gives private music lessons.

Jeremy comes from a musical family. His father is a retired music teacher, his uncle teaches music and his brother writes music and leads a band in New York City. Jeremy lives in Belleville, the town where he was raised.

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Helen Clark, Cello

Helen Clark has been a cellist with the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra since the orchestra was founded in 1999. In addition to playing with YSO, Helen is a team lead for a mortgage underwriters’ group at Citigroup. A native of Jackson, MI, she has a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Michigan. Helen began her musical career at age six with piano lessons. She never liked to practice, but she loved to play. In grade school she was so inspired by a school visit from the Jackson Symphony that she announced to her mother that she wanted to play the violin. Her mother persuaded her that it would be easier to listen to the practicing of a beginning cellist than a beginning violinist. She has been playing the cello ever since. Helen says, “Music sparks my imagination. I can’t say I find it relaxing, since I get so excited by it.”