Mercury Baroque and YES Prep Public Schools Announce A Joint Concert 5/5

Mercury Baroque and YES Prep Public Schools are proud to announce a special joint concert in which more than 165 students from YES Prep West will perform Side by Side with Mercury Baroque's internationally renowned musicians. This is the culmination of a groundbreaking new collaboration between Mercury Baroque and YES Prep Public Schools providing high level music education to students who might not have otherwise had access to such instruction. The concert is open to the public and free to attend and will be held in the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater on Thursday, May 5th at 7:00pm.

In a move that allows both organizations to achieve long-standing goals, Mercury Baroque and YES Prep have recently formed a new partnership which establishes a comprehensive music education program for YES Prep West students in grades 6 and 7. As part of this new arrangement, selected YES Prep students receive individualized instruction from Mercury Baroque musicians through chamber music classes, private lessons, and afterschool orchestra practices.

Featuring everything from Vivaldi to Coldplay, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus to Pirates of the Caribbean, the May 5th joint performance will showcase the wide variety of repertoire that Mercury Baroque musicians have helped YES Prep students learn during the course of the school year. The concert's grand finale will feature YES Prep's top level Symphonic Orchestra as they perform Side by Side with musicians from Mercury Baroque.
"We are so pleased to have the opportunity to provide musical education for YES Prep students," says Antoine Plante, Mercury Baroque's Artistic Director. "These talented students will become the musicians and audiences of the future!"
"Our partnership with Mercury Baroque gives the students at YES Prep West direct access to world class artists, thereby allowing young minds to see what is possible when you combine hard work, diligence, and passion for music," says Ellen Winstead, School Director of YES Prep West.

Mercury Baroque recently honored YES Prep Public Schools and their commitment to arts education in their 10th Anniversary Gala on March 26th.
Now in its 10th Season, Mercury Baroque has charmed audiences and critics the world over with its passionate and exciting performances of Baroque music on period accurate instruments. Originally founded as a chamber ensemble, Mercury has since grown into a full orchestra of young, dynamic musicians, performing a subscription series of concerts in downtown Houston, other Houston-area communities and touring both domestically and internationally. In addition to frequent performances, Mercury Baroque is also dedicated to educating future audiences and training the city's future musicians. Mercury's educational outreach programs have reached more than 10,000 children in the past 5 years alone.

YES Prep's mission is to dramatically increase the number of low-income Houstonians who graduate from a four-year college prepared to compete in the global marketplace and give back to their communities. YES Prep currently serves 4,200 students at eight area schools, with two new schools opening in the fall. The majority of YES Prep students are low income, Hispanic or African American, first generation college goers, and, on average, at least one grade level behind in Math and Reading when they enroll. Despite these challenges, all students graduate from YES Prep prepared to succeed in college. YES Prep was established and now exists to change these odds by proving a simple hypothesis: low-income students can do just as well academically as their more affluent peers when given access to the same resources.

 

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