Education Programs

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String Quartet Outreach

This Spring, RSYO Conductor Linc Smelser has been heading up our String Quartet outreach programs, visiting 16 schools to present "The Many Moods of Music." The performance is 30-45 minutes long and is tailored to the age group with whom the quartet is interacting. Students identify their emotions through listening to different types of music, sing along to familiar tunes, and learn basic music concepts in this interactive program.

Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra

This season, the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra has 42 young musicians enrolled, down from the 62 we served pre-Covid. RSYO will be presenting their Spring Orchestra concert on May 1 at 3:00pm at Hononegah High School. This will be a special performance featuring both the 2019 and 2021 Concerto Competition Winners performing concerto movements with the youth orchestra. Having a soloist perform with the ensemble is a unique opportunity for RSYO musicians to play expanded repertoire and experience accompanying a soloist, something the musicians won't often experience in their school music programs.

RSYO Concerto Competition

Zoe Hart, flute

The RSYO Concerto Competition is held each fall in partnership with Rock Valley College. Students from a 50-mile radius are invited to compete to win. The winner of the 2021 competition was RSYO flute player Zoe Hart. Zoe has been playing flute for five years, and studies under Jacques Saint-Cyr at the Music Academy of Rockford. She is a junior at Belvidere North High School and a member of their Wind Ensemble. Zoe has played with other ensembles including The Fifth Inversion Quartet, Measure Five, and the pit orchestra for Rock Valley College Starlight Theatre.

Linc Smelser has been the conductor of RSYO since 2014, and the coach of the ensemble’s Sterling String Quartet for many years as well. In addition to his work with the RSO, Linc is an accomplished cellist who plays with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, is an active substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducts the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the NIU Sinfonia in DeKalb, and maintains an active teaching studio. Linc will be conducting this year’s RSO Star Spangled Spectacular performance at Rock Valley College’s Starlight Theatre on July 3, 2022.

Digital Resources

The RSO has several resources online for educators. This Spring the RSO released an interactive virtual Youth Concert where students can sing and play recorders along with an orchestra, accompanied by a full curriculum from Carnegie Hall. We also offer an interactive Instrument Selection site where students can get to know the instruments of the orchestra and choose one to play in their own school ensembles, videos on the ComEd Digital Stage, and a host of other resources for educators. Thank you for supporting music education!

The RSO is proud to have three staff members working to advance music education and support music educators through these efforts. All of this is made possible each season through the support of donors who give to the Annual Fund, as well as grant awards from foundations. This season, the RSO has received generous support for educational programming from the Farny R. Wurltizer Foundation, the William M. Miller Charitable Trust, and the Kjellstrom Family Foundation, in addition to gifts from individuals.

Meet the RSO's Education Team

(left to right) Linc Smelser, RSYO Conductor and String Outreach Artistic Coordinator Margo Stedman, Education and Community Engagement Director Audra Freeze, Education and Engagement Coordinator