Clover Sonoma supports Santa Rosa Symphony's Free Concerts for Youth
Clover Sonoma made a generous donation to the Santa Rosa Symphony to help fund the Santa Rosa Symphony Institute for Music Education's "Free Concerts for Youth" program, which provides North Bay schools with access to free, engaging educational concerts in Weill Hall, at the Green Music Center. Clover Sonoma support extends to the two remaining (of three) concert dates: Thursday, February 7, 2019, and Thursday, May 2, 2019. In the 2018-2019 season, the Free Concerts for Youth will reach approximately 7,000 children, teachers and chaperones with a total of six concerts (two on each date).
What's unique about the SRS Institute's Free Concerts For Youth program is that for the February and May concert dates, the elementary students hear concerts by youth ensembles, making it all the more inspiring. On February 7, elementary students will be treated to a concert by the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra (ages 14-22), the highest level of the Institute's Training Young Musicians program. They will be joined by students from the El Sistema-inspired Simply Strings afterschool program for John Williams' Imperial March from Star Wars. Simply Strings provides no-cost, after-school music instruction for underserved students from second grade through middle school at Sheppard Accelerated Elementary School in Santa Rosa. The May concert will be performed by the Santa Rosa Symphony Aspirante Orchestra, the SRS' mid-level youth orchestra.
Free Concerts for Youth is the longest-running component of the Santa Rosa Symphony Institute for Music Education. Eugene Shepherd, founder and conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra (which was originally named the Sonoma County Junior Symphony) performed the first free educational concert in 1947.
The SRS Institute for Music Education continues to expand its educational services for young people and adults, and recently made major strides. Last year saw a 35% increase in the Institute’s reach, now serving 30,000 annually with a broad array of free and low-cost programming for classroom, afterschool, weekend and summer music education.
"The Symphony relies heavily on community support, including generous corporate donations like this, to keep the Symphony's music education programs available to Sonoma County elementary students. We are very grateful to Clover Sonoma for its support of the Free Concerts for Youth and all it means to the community," said Santa Rosa Symphony President and CEO Alan Silow.
