The Intern-al Report: News from the Field

The title says it all. Making music and changing lives is what the Indy Symphony does. And now, you have a very special chance to help us change the lives of deserving children.

On April 15, the Indianapolis Symphony and the Columbia Club will host "Making Music Changing Lives," a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra (MYO), and we would love for you to join us!

MYO is an amazing program sponsored by the ISO's Learning Community that provides individual and chamber music lessons to inner city youth ages five to 18 and invites their parents or relatives to make music with them. Participants get to enjoy making music, develop relationships with mentors, learn life skills and build stronger bonds within their own families. 

The fundraiser will take place in the Columbia Club Ballroom, where guests will enjoy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at 6 p.m., followed by a three-course dinner with a special menu designed by the chef of the Columbia Club. At 7:30, ISO Concertmaster Zach DePue, ISO cellist Geoff Lapin and pianist Marianne Williams Tobias will perform. Perhaps the best part of the evening will be a performance by an MYO chamber ensemble that includes both advanced and beginner students and adults. You will get to see the results of the MYO efforts firsthand. Students will also be sitting with you during dinner so you can hear more from them about their experience with MYO!

Since 1995, 735 students and numerous adult relatives have participated in MYO. Academic success achieved by participants demonstrates that this program is indeed changing lives. Last year, 100 percent of MYO's high school seniors graduated, while the average graduation rate for Indianapolis Public Schools was 58 percent--mentors and family bonds can make all the difference. 

MYO has also helped students become very skilled musicians. The most recent example is fifteen-year-old Jameel Martin, a 10-year violist in MYO, who has been accepted to the 2011 Itzhak Perlman Summer Music School, a prestigious program that invites 37 exceptional string players ages 11 to 18 from around the world to study with Itzhak and Toby Perlman for six weeks. We are so excited and so proud of Jameel!

The cost of each student's participation in MYO is $1,700 per year, but MYO only charges each student $180 per year. Furthermore, no student is ever turned away from receiving lessons, so those who cannot afford the $180 fee receive free or further reduced-price lessons. We need your help to keep providing these music lessons that increase children's chances at success. Proceeds from the event will provide additional scholarships for MYO students and will be used to develop an instrument inventory so participants can borrow instruments.

On behalf of Jameel and all the other MYO students, thank you for your support!