Benefit Concert PS

Thanks to all of you who came to the Benefit Concert at St. Luke's Chapel a few weeks ago. It was truly a celebration of all the work that many, many people have put in during this first year of Kidzymphony, and a show of vision and commitment from everybody involved.

The concert began with the Kidzymphony Orchestra, followed by magnificent soprano Janai Brugger, myself on the fiddle, and finally the first appearance of the Kidzymphony Community Orchestra, an energetic cross-generation group made of Kidzymphony parents, collaborators, teachers and friends. Charleston Symphony concertmaster Yuriy Bekker and I played the solo parts with the orchestra in Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Violins in A Minor.

This was a memorable time for everybody in the audience and on stage, which was proven by Shamyra's words "I wish we could do it all over again!" Thanks to all who made this possible!

Kidzymphony Benefit Concert

Kidzymphony Orchestra, Janai Brugger, Yuriy Bekker, Calley Moore, Madeline Hershenson, Unus-Dián Errandonea, Javier Orman and more join sounds to promote and uplift the Kidzymphony mission. Come and help plant the seeds for the future of your arts, your community and your leaders!

The Charleston Academy of Music (CAM) will host a special Kidzymphony Benefit Concert on Sunday April 18, 2010, 4 p.m.-5p.m. at the historic St Luke’s Chapel (MUSC) located on 181 Ashley Avenue. The concert is free of admission with all donations going towards funding CAM’s Kidzymphony, along with the expansion of the program. To reserve a seat, attendees should RSVP through email at cam746@yahoo.com or through the CAM office at 843-805-7794. The concert will showcase Kidzymphony Director Javier Orman, Charleston Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Yuriy Bekker, up-and-coming soprano Janai Brugger, CAM faculty and Honors Students, Kidzymphony parents and Kidzymphony Orchestra.

The program will feature Vivaldi’s Concerto for two violins in A Minor performed by CAM faculty Javier Orman and Yuriy Bekker, as well as music for violin, soprano, and more.

Growing and growing....

It is a pleasure to see our kids grow from week to week, learning new skills (three fingers down!) and applying them with joy and commitment.

Also, it's exciting to see the program itself expand quickly, as it will this coming academic year. Starting in August, 2010, a new group of kindergarteners will form the new beginning orchestra, and our current kids will be in the advanced group. Thanks to Meeting Street Academy for making this a reality for so many of its children. We can't wait to keep growing.

3 months after!

It has been three months since we've started and so much has been accomplished already! For starters, we are beginning to put fingers down on the strings!! If you have ever played/taught a string instrument, you know that there is quite a bit to be mastered before that, especially if you are as detail-oriented as we are!

As far as the orchestra goes, our performance on November 10th at the Charleston Library Society was the 3rd in our history. Each time we play in public, we reach higher and higher, and our kids grow more motivated. By now, you can guess that music-making and technique-learning are part of our kids' everyday lives. In a way, that is one of our main goals: to make learning, intellectual and creative activities 'normal', just as it is to eat or, unfortunately, to watch TV.

Starting things off....

On August 24th, 2009, 21 children aged 5-7 first faced their first musical instrument. Violins, violas and cellos were observed, touched and admiration was expressed through noisy plucks. Kidzymphony has now met many times for sectionals, full rehearsals and basic-skills classes in this everyday music program. We even had our first performance on Thursday, 9/17, when the orchestra showed it's focus and knowledge in a way that surprised even its own teachers.

The group is led by teachers Calley Moore (violin), Jill King (viola), Madeline Hershenson (viola, basic skills), Unus-Dián Errandonea (cello) and your writer, Javier Orman (violin, Orchestra Program Director). Kidzymphony is the product of a direct collaboration between the Charleston Academy of Music and the Meeting Street Academy (meetingstreetacademy.org), which provides spaces and a LOT of help.

It's exciting to be writing this, as we face worlds of possibilities that are opening in front of us, and we fulfill expectations from months (years, really) of preparation. This could be overwhelming, but I find it exciting, even thrilling. Check us out again soon, as we'll post updates and pictures regularly.