WRTI believes that the joy of experiencing classical music should be available to everyone, including children in our region. Since 2020, after WRTI received a generous legacy gift, The Irving and Jennie Pearl Shoer Family Endowment, we’ve been busy making that happen.
This gift has profoundly enhanced the station's ability to provide music education opportunities to children in the Greater Philadelphia region and has supported efforts to build partnerships with local music organizations and schools to reach students who otherwise might not have had the chance to experience these performances.
Here’s what we’ve been up to this past month:
In October, WRTI collaborated with Jasper Chamber Concerts to present two concerts featuring the Jasper String Quartet for fourth and fifth-graders at the John H. Taggart School in South Philadelphia. These concerts were not just typical performances but interactive experiences designed to engage and inspire the students.
Students were not just passive listeners but active participants in a truly transformative experience! During the concerts, they listened to works by Roman Haas, Gabriella Smith, Jungyoon Wie, and Antonín Dvořák. Then, they had the opportunity to chat with the quartet about the emotions conveyed by the music and the different roles of the instruments in the quartet.
WRTI's commitment to music education is unwavering and evident in its ongoing partnership with Jasper Chamber Concerts, now in its second year. The Jasper String Quartet will continue to engage with the school, with a return performance for the students in February. Additionally, the quartet will visit the Philadelphia High School for Girls twice this school year.
Also in October, WRTI partnered with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society to bring a string quartet made up of members of the Sphinx Virtuosi to Independence Charter School West to perform for elementary school students.
At the Sphinx Virtuosi quartet performance, all students in attendance were string players, thanks to a program that Play on Philly provides at the school. The students actively engaged with the quartet's program, including the second movement of Florence Price's Five Folksongs in Counterpoint, a piece that students identified and enthusiastically discussed its origins based on the ballad "Oh My Darling, Clementine."
Coming up, WRTI is proud to support four additional performances for children with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. This season marks the third year of the education partnership, a strong testament to both organizations’ shared and ongoing commitment to music education in Philadelphia.
Interested in learning more or supporting WRTI's commitment to music education? Please contact Lydia Veilleux, our Education Outreach Manager, at lydia@wrti.org
You can also donate here to champion and expand WRTI's education initiatives!
