First off, the name Brevard Symphony Youth Orchestra has become a bit of a misnomer over the years.

Since starting 22 years ago with 60 players, the organization offers three performing vehicles for about 200 local young musicians ranging from 8- to 17-years-old with different playing skills. Beginners play in the string ensemble, intermediate students perform in the concert orchestra, and the more advanced musicians comprise the symphony orchestra. Participants audition every year.

Sunday, you can check out all three groups when they perform at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne.

Most music students and parents learn about the orchestra through school music programs.

"This has been the dream of the school system ever since we started the school's string program in 1981," said BSYO board president Sheila King, a music teacher at Apollo Elementary. "The idea of the BSYO has always been to complement school music programs."

As a teacher and a parent of a former BSYO player, King has seen a common denominator in students who play in the orchestra in addition to its school programs.

"A lot of these students are overachievers," King says. "They want a higher level of repertoire that they might not be getting at their school. And they want to play with students are who are highly motivated."

Exhibit A: Kostas Galanopoulos auditioned for the BSYO as a percussionist when he was 11.

"All I know is I had a kid who was constantly drumming any chance he could," says his mom, Mary Ellen Galanopoulos.

He made it into the concert orchestra, but he knew he didn't want to stop there.

"I used to listen in on the symphonic orchestra when they'd practice thinking, gosh they're good," he said.

Now 13, Kostas is a seventh-grader at Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School, where he plays in the band. He also is playing his first season in BSYO's symphonic orchestra.

Standing behind a snare drum in his Cocoa Beach home, he launches into the rhythm of Suppe's "Light Calvary Overture," one of the pieces the symphony will play Sunday.

His face lights up. It's his favorite piece.

"This is the part where the trumpets come in," he said.

He may be playing a drum solo now, but he understands playing music with other people is a team sport.

No longer just a drummer, he's becoming a full-fledged percussionist, playing timpani, cymbals and triangle

"And now he knows Cannon in D," says his mother Mary Ellen. "What 13-year-old knows Cannon in D?"

Sure, someday, he'd like to trade in Pachabel for Rush. He digs classic rock and wants to play in a rock or jazz band.

Chances are most of the young musicians prefer more modern music in their time away from the BSYO.

"The BSYO students appreciate better music, though I doubt they listen to much classical on their own," said symphony orchestra conductor Joseph Kreines. "There's a strange dichotomy between what the kids listen to and what they are playing in the BSYO. But these students tend to be much more quicker to catch on to things you ask them to do,"

Longtime BSYO supporter Brian Slawson, a Grammy Award-winning composer, musician and music instructor, said what the kids take from the BSYO will help them in any music endeavor they pursue.

"The classical music in and of itself requires the most discipline in just being able to perform the works of the great composers," Slawson said.

Case in point is lauded Satellite High School grad Christian Tambour, who is known more as a jazz artist. But he once played percussion in the BSYO.

Last year, about 15 outgoing seniors planned to major in music at their colleges.

That's a good thing but it's not the sole purpose of the BSYO, organizers said.

"These young people are not only our future musicians but our future audiences members," said Fran Delisle, executive director of Brevard Symphony Orchestra, BSYO's umbrella organization. "It's a good investment for us."