“This holiday season, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra gathered four string musicians and vocalist Brian Owens to perform an evening concert at the St. Louis County Juvenile Detention Center,” writes Morgan Bradley in Thursday’s (1/4) St. Louis American (St. Louis, MO). “The facility’s gymnasium was turned into an impromptu concert hall where about thirty juveniles ranging in ages from 13-17 years old were assembled…. Maureen Byrne, director of diversity and community affairs for the St. Louis Symphony … read a few remarks from Ron Boyer, a former prisoner who was introduced to the St. Louis Symphony through a similar program at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center 15 years ago…. Boyer said … that … one of the musicians present to play for them also visited him while he was incarcerated. They connected after the performance and developed a friendship that they still maintain today…. The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians have a history of visiting prisons and playing for offenders, but this concert marks their first year preforming at the Juvenile Detention Facility. … Said Byrne, “We still have a chance to inspire these kids and not write them off.”
In photo: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians Ann Fink, Wendy Rosen, Leonid Gotman, and Alvin McCall are joined by singer Brian Owens for a concert at the St. Louis County Juvenile Detention Center. Photo: Kenneth Hibbler.
Posted January 4, 2018
