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Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra offers mentorship opportunity for young musicians

Cathy Carter/Delaware Public Media

The Music School of Delaware in Wilmington employs nearly 100 educators and provides by-audition students a full symphony experience with the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra. The young ensemble will present their annual Spring concert on March 14th when the 70- plus member orchestra will perform among other pieces, selections from “West Side Story.”
 
Ahead of their concert, DYSO members spent a full day practicing and getting advice from one of the First State’s more renowned musical figures.  Delaware Symphony Orchestra Music Director David Amado, says tutoring is essential for developing a young musician's artistry.

Credit Cathy Carter/Delaware Public Media
Delaware Symphony Orchestra Music Director David Amado works with the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra

“I think the classical music world is one of the few professions left in which the way you advance really is through a series of mentoring experiences,” says Amado, the 2014 recipient of the Governor’s Award for the Arts. “As a student, I certainly had my share of mentors and it was not only valuable but it was the thing that helped me define myself as a musician. It’s almost like a trade being a musician,” he adds. “Just like if you’re going to be a blacksmith or a carpenter, you need the opportunity to work with a master blacksmith or a master carpenter to learn how to do it. I think it’s exactly the same with music.”

Madison Stern, a 15-year old oboe player from Hockessin, says she valued the maestro’s mentoring session.

“I think its a great opportunity to learn a different conductors style,” says Stern. “When you work with one conductor all the time you get so in sync with them so  when transitioning, its a little bit harder because you have to get used to how they like to do things or learn what style of music they like to hear you play.”

The Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Spring concert is free and open to the public. It takes place Saturday March 14th at Concord High School in Wilmington. For ticket information visit, The Music School's website.
 

This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.