For the past three years, the Festival has worked to establish one of the most unique outreach programs in the country. Our outreach is shaped by the conviction that a student who has the opportunity to participate in classical music will benefit more than one who simply listens to an outreach concert in school.
Students displaying musical talent are given the opportunity to perform alongside professionals from the Festival in at least one event each year. This collaboration between student and professional is made possible in part because of the high level of musical training and education which students receive in this community.
During the first Outreach program (2005) fourteen local students performed in the chorus of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, a collaboration which proved so successful that the next year (2006) fifty students joined our chorus for Orff’s Carmina Burana. Last season, fifty students sang in Richard Hundley’s The Sea is Swimming Tonight. This year we are working in connection with Greenwich High School's Senior Internship program to offer seven students the chance to take part in our production of Montiverdi's Return of Ulysses. Another thirty students will have the chance to perform in our closing night finale concert.
In addition to offering performance opportunities for students, the Festival sends its professional musicians to local schools to engage classrooms in discussion about classical music, accompanied by performances and workshops. The resulting conversation between student and musician goes both ways: as professional musicians share their knowledge and love of music, the students in return reveal their generation’s interests and ideas, helping us to reach younger listeners on their terms.