“James McKay and Robert McNichols made no attempt to hide the pure bliss from their faces [at] the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s College Connections program being held at Harris-Stowe State University last Tuesday,” writes Kenya Vaughn in Thursday’s (3/7) St. Louis American (St. Louis, MO). “It was the final College Connections stop of six this season. Hundreds of middle-school orchestra students from Normandy, Jennings and Saint Louis Public Schools students were given a tour and information session about the university before heading over to the auditorium to see a small ensemble of [St. Louis Symphony] orchestra members perform. McKay … teaches orchestra at Jennings Junior High, and McNichols [is] an associate professor of music at Harris-Stowe who teaches voice and conducts the concert chorale… McKay and McNichols studied classical music together while students in the Normandy School District.… McKay credits those lessons as critical to his acceptance into Eastman School of Music…. ‘It was a good experience,’ … said Angelo Collier, a seventh grader who studies violin under McKay…. ‘It made me feel like I can learn more now, learn more when I get to college, and learn even more later in life.’ ”
Posted March 8, 2019
