MELBOURNE - Corbin Hines, 16, and Deborah Moyer, 14, took their seats in front of Brevard Symphony Youth Orchestra conductor Joseph Kreines and lifted their instruments to their shoulders.

As their bows moved across their viola and violin, the sweetest sounds emerged, filling the King Center with Franz von Suppe's "Light Calvary Overture," a familiar tune played expertly by the 78 members of the advanced symphony orchestra.

"It's not very often that you see a bunch of talented musicians come together in something like this and when you do, the music is so pretty," Moyer said before the concert began Sunday. She is home-schooled and began playing the violin when she was 3 years old.

The Fall Musical Harvest presented Sunday was the first concert of the season, which ends in April.

"When you bring so many qualified musicians together, we can play high-level music literature and expand our musical horizons," said Hines, who is an 11th-grader at Astronaut High in Titusville and began playing the viola in fourth grade.

Jan Jewett, the orchestra's general manager, said 196 students are involved in the beginning, intermediate and advanced orchestras, ages 7 to 18. All three orchestras took their turns on the stage, with the beginning group playing a nearly unrecognizable version of the "William Tell Overture." But orchestra President Sheila King said it's inspiring for a 7-year-old to be able to perform on the King Center stage. All the students had to audition for a chair in the orchestra.

"It's just a dream come true" for students, King said.

What parents say they won't forget is what the orchestra provides for their children.

"Her joy and motivation is self-driven," said Dalia Gutierrez, whose daughter, JuliAnne, plays the cello in the beginning string ensemble. "We're very grateful the Brevard Symphony Orchestra has the program arranged for the youth."