This Sunday, February 10 at 4:00, the Brooklyn Queens Conservatory of Music’s Youth Orchestra will perform its second concert at Old First Church. (If you search really hard on the BQCM website, you’ll see this listed as a choral performance. That’s an error.)

As a parent lucky to have been there from day one, I’ve had the pleasure of watching the orchestra ("open to all instrumentalists age 9-18 who can read music") blossom
over the past year and a half under conductor Yvonne Hicks. Yvonne is
one of those incredibly demanding, occasionally intimidating, yet
absolutely adored teachers some of us may be fortunate enough to
remember from our own school days.

 

Yvonne’s
is not one of those off-tempo school orchestras only a parent could
love. Even though some of of the kids are relatively new at the game, I
bet any WQXR type would find this a pleasant alternative to a Sunday afternoon
listening to recorded music. Great opportunity, too, for parents
looking to scope what’s happening at BQCM–or to introduce a budding
musician to the idea of playing with other kids. And it’s free to boot.