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Kirkwood High School Symphonic Orchestra Students Reach Fundraising Goal of $72,000 for Carnegie Hall Trip
January 22, 2010
Kirkwood High School Symphonic Orchestra students reached their fundraising goal of $72,000 needed for their trip to the 2010 Instrumental Music Festival at Carnegie Hall March 26-29.
“Itʼs been an incredible journey since we announced our fundraising goal in May,” said Orchestra Director Patrick Jackson, “and weʼre not even in New York yet. We have been literally overwhelmed by the generous and enthusiastic support of this community, our parents, friends, fellow musicians and KHS alumni. Playing on the stage at Carnegie Hall will be such an amazing experience for these young musicians and they will be there because of this support.”
Since a team of judges from the Field Studies Center of New York announced last spring that the KHS orchestra was one of three music groups selected nationwide to play at Carnegie, the students began an immediate campaign to raise the funds.
Their efforts began within two weeks with a kick-off “Car-negie Car Wash” and later included a letter writing campaign to friends and relatives, book fairs, a rummage sale, Greentree Festival game booth, numerous media interviews, and presentations and appearances throughout the community, all culminating with a “Road to Carnegie Hall” alumni benefit concert in December.
The sold-out concert presented a rare opportunity for the community to hear world renowned musicians from the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and internationally acclaimed string virtuosos, all graduates of the KHS orchestral program.
Money raised from the campaign will be used to cover expenses for the four-day trip, including ground transportation from St. Louis to New York for the cellos and double basses. Sixty-one students will be making the trip.
The students have been working on the music for the Carnegie performance since September; Jackson has selected a very difficult and yet eclectic program for the performance. The rigorous months of rehearsals are in addition to the students’ regular full concert and solo ensemble schedule.
Symphonic Orchestra students, directed by Jackson for the past 19 years, have won local and national acclaim for performances throughout the country. Former Kirkwood students have won first prize in prestigious string competitions including the Avery Fisher Prize, Banff International Chamber Music Competition, the Sphinx Competition, and the Young Concert Artist Guild competition. Jackson’s students have also attended top music schools nationwide, including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, The New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Added to the annals of Kirkwood’s orchestral history will now be an unprecedented appearance at Carnegie Hall.
When his students take center stage at Carnegie, the sounds emanating from their instruments will waft five stories upward above the curvilinear stage and mix into the plastered walls where other legendary music greats have left their sound.
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Contact
Ginger Fletcher, Director of Community Relations/Development; 314-213-6100, ext. 7851; 314-600-7773 (cell); ginger.fletcher@kirkwoodschools.org
Nona King, Communications Coordinator; 314-213-6100, ext. 7802; 314-520-6728 (cell); nona.king@kirkwoodschools.org
