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Youth Symphony receives two Community Foundation grants

JAMESTOWN – The Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony (CRYS) has received two grants from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation.

“We are thrilled with this support and so grateful to the Community Foundation,” said CRYS board president Tanya Anderson, in acknowledging the awards.

Both grants are funded through the Community Foundation’s Blossom Fund. One supports the honorarium for Conductor and Music Director Bryan Eckenrode and the other funds CRYS’s Chautauqua Weekend.

Widely acclaimed for both his performance and his conducting, Eckenrode took the helm of CRYS in 2003. At that time there was a single orchestra, which is now the Youth Symphony, CRYS’s premier performance group of highly talented and motivated high school and college musicians.

Under Eckenrode’s leadership, two more orchestras were formed: Prelude Strings for beginning string musicians and the Young Artists Orchestra for intermediate string, brass, wind and percussion players.

The Chautauqua Weekend is an immersion experience for the Youth Symphony. Scheduled for the end of March, the Weekend includes an overnight at Chautauqua Institution’s Bellinger Hall, private lessons with expert instructors, participation in small group lessons, and extensive rehearsing.

“The entire experience is a preparation for our Spring Gala Concert on Sunday, May 4, at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts,” Anderson noted. The May concert features performances by all three CRYS orchestras.

In April, CRYS students will take a trip to Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall. There they will have a meet-and-greet with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony before their performance of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony,” a concert of all cartoon music.

For more information about the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony, call 664-2465, ext. 202, or visit the website at www.CRYouthSymphony.com.

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