“On a clear Sunday afternoon, roughly two dozen teenage members of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony filed into the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music carrying violins, violas, cellos and basses” to rehearse for an annual Halloween event at the Adrienne Arsht Center, writes Jesse Scheckner in Saturday’s (11/11) Miami Herald. “Founded in 1958 … the youth symphony is among South Florida’s oldest music-related nonprofits…. Adrian Ulloa, a 16-year- old principal cellist with the Greater Miami Youth Symphony, said his involvement in the program has improved his leadership skills and made him more responsible…. Gisla Bush’s daughter, Grace, was in her early teens when Bush noticed she was having trouble concentrating. A friend of the family suggested South Florida Youth Symphony, a nonprofit founded in 1964…. Bush said, ‘When she got into music, I saw that begin to change.’ Bush said the results were so striking that she enrolled eight of her nine children in the program…. The Florida Youth Orchestra … now in its 30th season, has 800 musicians ages 6-19…. ‘These kids are developing traits such as commitment, responsibility, flexibility, cooperation—all the skills needed to develop into successful, productive adults,’ [co-founder Myra Weaver] said.”
Posted November 14, 2017
Pictured: Fadhina Petit Clair, Isabella Perdomo and Justine Padron practice for the South Florida Youth Symphony at Miami Dade College, North Campus.
