FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katie English, 267-974-1250
Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Announces Free TUNE UP PHILLY Children’s Orchestra Concert on Saturday, December 11
More than 80 West Philadelphia elementary school students from new Philadelphia Youth Orchestra after-school musical education program to hold first, free concert December 11, 2:00 p.m.Philadelphia, PA – December 6, 2010. (Download PDF) Maestro Louis Scaglione, the President and Music Director of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and Tune Up Philly Director, Stanford Thompson today announced the first concert from a new youth orchestra at St. Francis de Sales School in West Philadelphia. Tune Up Philly is a new, after-school musical education program of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) designed to nurture urban children living in challenging social and economic conditions by keeping them engaged in success through weekday out-of-school hour’s musical instruction. Offering their first concert this Saturday, most of the students in Tune Up Philly did not previously study classical music.
Tune Up Philly commenced September 20, 2010 and will run through July 29, 2011 offering four free concerts to the public. Instructed by a dozen local, professional musicians, the students in Tune Up Philly train five days a week with concentrations in woodwind (flutes, clarinets), brass (horns, trumpets, trombones), strings (violins, violas and cellos), percussion, choral and general music education. The program is funded through a matching grant by PYO Board of Trustees member, Carole Haas Gravagno. Tune Up Philly’s concert on December 11 is open to the public, with free admission.
| WHO: | More than 80 elementary school students from St. Francis de Sales School Maestro Louis Scaglione, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Stanford Thompson, Tune Up Philly Sr. Mary McNulty, Principal, St. Francis de Sales School 12 Teaching Artists, Tune Up Philly Instructors |
| WHAT: | PYO’s Tune Up Philly first concert Free admission; open to the public |
| WHEN: | Saturday, December 11, 2010; 2 p.m. |
| WHERE: | St. Francis de Sales School, 917 S 47th St., Philadelphia, PA |
About the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra: Founded in 1939, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra is one of the nation’s oldest classical music training and orchestra performance programs for gifted and talented students from the Tri-State region. Lead by Maestro Louis Scaglione, PYO’s companion ensembles include the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra (PYAO), formed in 1996; Bravo Brass, added to the program in 2003; Philadelphia Region Youth String Music (PRYSM) created in 2007; and the Musicopia String Orchestra partnership, which began in 2008. Young musicians from ages six through 21 are selected by competition audition and have represented the United States on five continents. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) offers classical musical performances to the Greater Philadelphia region each year and supports musical education to children from Philadelphia’s more challenging neighborhoods through its newest after-school program launched in 2010, Tune Up Philly.
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