Dec. 17

Junior Strings concert to include music mix

About 16 musicians from the Tucson Junior Strings will share a mix of music by Dvorak and Mozart, as well as light classics, show tunes and perhaps even some Christmas carols when they return to the Arizona Senior Academy for a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

As in previous concerts, the violin, viola, cello and bass players will consist of high school students drawn from Tucson Junior Strings members throughout the area. All are part of the elite Chamber I, the top of six levels of Tucson Junior Strings orchestras.

The Tucson Junior Strings have been part of the Tucson music education scene for 46 years. Under the guidance, organization and dedication of Dennis and Anna Bourret (working together since 1970), along with Andrea Jameson, young Tucson string musicians have progressed through the strings six stages as they master increasingly difficult levels of music.

Working in concert with school orchestra programs, the strings emphasize, in particular, the gaining of leadership skills by playing without a conductor and continually rotating concert master and section leader assignments.

Basic to the program is the cooperation of everyone for the benefit of harmony both musical and interpersonal. That emphasis has resulted in Tucson Junior Strings alums in leadership roles in many organizations, both inside and outside the musical world.

Summer tours are planned for each year, with the 2014 tour heading to Boston, where Tucson Junior Strings students will have the benefit of coaching sessions with members of the Boston Symphony and the New England Conservatory of Music. Closer to home, Tucson Junior Strings will be conducting a weeklong Music Camp in the Santa Catalinas.

For more information about the program, go to tucsonjuniorstrings.org online.

Janet Kerans

Read the rest here:
At the Academy: Young musicians, a talk on Cuba, and living off the desert