Youth Orchestra Collects Violins for School 19 Students

Since last fall, parents and students in the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra have been involved in a music program at Dr. Charles T. Lunsford School 19 in Rochester, helping teach violin to the school's 3rd grade classes. They have also collected close to 50 string instruments which are now in the hands of young musicians.

This week, 17 of the students performed a concert at Bernunzio’s Uptown Music during the Jazz Festival. With a backdrop of colorful guitars, the students – with their teachers Robert Faulkner, Gretchen Judge, and Patty Yarmel – demonstrated how much they had learned over the year. First they played a very simple version of “Apple Pie,” then went on to play more elaborate versions. They also played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in more and more complex rhythmic patterns.

Family members and friends were in the audience – and the pride really showed on the students’ faces at the end of the concert. Click here to watch a story about these young musicians on WROC-TV, Channel 8.

If you are interested in contributing a student violin, or making a monetary donation to fund violins for School 19, please contact Susan Basu at 454-7311 x224 or email sbasu@rpo.org.

First Niagara Pavilion Goes Up Across from Eastman Theatre

Assembly began on Monday morning for the RPO’s new summer home at the First Niagara Center City Pavilion (see photos below). First, it will be used for Club Pass concerts during the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival June 12–20 and then it will stay up through the month of July.

Conveniently located diagonally across from the Eastman Theatre, the Pavilion will provide complete patron amenities including air-conditioning, seating for approximately 2,000, and concessions. Click here for a fact sheet with more information, including seating charts.

For four weekends beginning July 10 & 11 – plus one special mid-week concert of Beatlemania! – exceptional guest artists will join the RPO for Best of the Blues, classical masterpieces by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, the hits of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and, closing out our summer pavilion concerts, your favorite Broadway classics. Click here for the full Summer Series information.

Monday morning - the beams have arrived and footings for the Pavilion are being set in place. (Click on photos for bigger image)

Tuesday - the footings have all been securely bolted into the pavement, and the facade of the Pavilion is going up, beam by beam.

By Wednesday, the structure is really taking shape, seen here from Chestnut street looking across to the Eastman Theatre.

One more section of the roof goes up and is locked into place.

A view of the Pavilion from the corner of East Main Street and Gibbs, in front of the YMCA.

And here's the view of the Pavilion from in front of the Eastman Theatre.