The Empire State Youth Orchestra, based in Albany, New York, continues to expand its CHIME (Creating Harmony, Inspiring Musical Excellence) music education program for students in the Schenectady City School District. The youth orchestra’s CHIME program provides students in a city school district with intensive music instruction five days per week and the possibility of participating in one or more of the Empire State Youth Orchestra’s ten ensembles. When the program began at an elementary school in 2015, it served 30 students who played string instruments. Last year, CHIME doubled its numbers to include wind, brass, and percussion, and this year, the program doubled again, adding two program sites and serving middle school students. CHIME was developed by Empire State Youth Orchestra Music Director Helen Cha-Pyo and Executive Director Becky Calos. Calos hired John Connolly, a former trombone player with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra who previously worked with In Harmony Sistema England and the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra, to help create and implement the program. ESYO says it expects CHIME to further expand over the next few years to include schools in Troy and Albany.
Posted December 18, 2017
