Ensemble Monterey started their student musician outreach in 2014, and officially formalized it as part of their operation in February with a concrete Action Plan – JUST before the pandemic began:

Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra strengthens the cultural fabric of the Central Coast by providing and encouraging an avenue of creative expression for professional musicians and composers who are residents of the community. Our student musician outreach provides valuable and unique performance opportunities for their generation. Ensemble Monterey provides welcoming access and exciting educational experiences to those audience members who might not otherwise consider classical music a relevant or available part of their lives.

A VIEW BACK

In 2014, EMCO began its student musician outreach, inviting local student ensembles to perform as part of several of our concerts each season. Between 2014 and February of 2020, EMCO had hosted a dozen student ensembles and formalized this program in 2020, just in time to shut down for COVID!

It was restarted in March of 2023 with students from the El Sistema Santa Cruz/Pajaro Valley Program, just a few weeks after the devastating floods in Pajaro, and in 2024 these students returned to great audience enthusiasm. We also welcomed students from Youth Music Monterey’s South County Strings program based in Soledad, and students from the new Santa Cruz High Concert Choir.  These student performances are now a fixture of our programs, and we will continue to include them in the coming season. Our season finale performances always include singers from the Cabrillo Youth Chorus, as well as the adult ensemble, Cantiamo! Cabrillo.

A special highlight came during the 31st season. In addition to the performances by youth ensembles, the season included the world premiere of “Pastures of Heaven” in February, which we commissioned from local Emmy award-winning composer John Wineglass, based on the works of John Steinbeck. This piece featured 22 players, 36 adult singers, and 54 youth singers from the Cabrillo Youth Chorus. Commissioning new works is an important part of our mission, supporting local artists and increasing the richness of the classical repertoire. That concert also featured the 29 young players from South County Strings in Monterey, and 18 from El Sistema Pajaro in Santa Cruz.

EMCO supplied complimentary family tickets to anybody who wanted to attend—a total of 82 to South County Strings families and 30 to El Sistema families for those two concerts. The directors of the two ensembles, both of whom play for EMCO, shared that these were the first concerts that most of these family members had ever attended. In addition, EMCO offered comps to players and families for the March concerts, and 5 students and their families took advantage of the offer showing that they felt included and welcome in our community. Ensemble Monterey will continue to do this in the 32nd season.

A VIEW AHEAD

In the 2024-2025 season, EMCO will feature a student violin and cello ensemble in Monterey and a solo bassist in Santa Cruz during our September concert series, a guitar ensemble from North Monterey County High School in November for both of our concerts and a return of the South County Strings from Soledad in January.

Families of our student ensembles are always admitted either free of charge or at a significant discount.

Further, to encourage concert attendance, complimentary tickets for each of our performances are given to the directors of numerous local ensembles to be distributed to their young players.