Palm Beach Symphony and PB Residents Launch $250K Challenge Grant To Bring Music To Title I Schools

Palm Beach residents and philanthropists, Paul and Karen Levy, will generously match up to $250,000 in donations to a challenge grant they created to benefit Palm Beach Symphony.

“We are so grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Levy for their donation that, with the community’s help, will have double the impact to support students in five Title I schools in Palm Beach County,” said David McClymont, Chief Executive Officer of Palm Beach Symphony. “Through this challenge grant, we will provide students with access to music education, outreach programs and instruments they might not otherwise have, enriching countless young lives.”

Every musician starts somewhere, and with the community’s help in fulfilling the challenge grant, Palm Beach Symphony helps nurture and develop young musicians from first grade through young adulthood by continuing to fulfill its mission to engage, educate and entertain the greater community of the Palm Beaches and beyond.

The Levy’s are fairly new members of the Palm Beach community and are excited about doing what they can to introduce young people to culture and the arts. 

“Karen and I love music,” Paul Levy said. “The idea that we can help young children get access to it, learn it, participate in it and make music is one that's very exciting to us.”

Thanks to the Palm Beach Symphony challenge grant, students will have access to hands-on coaching by Symphony musicians; private lessons; complimentary tickets with their teachers and families to attend Palm Beach Symphony masterworks concerts throughout the year, observing their residency coaches in a live performance; an in-school concert by Symphony musicians; a side-by-side performance with Symphony musicians; access to masterclasses led by the Symphony’s featured international guest soloists; an invitation for a student ensemble to perform at a select Symphony event; and have the opportunity to observe open rehearsals led by Music Director Gerard Schwarz conducting Palm Beach Symphony and featured guest soloists.

The Symphony’s education initiatives reflect the organization’s extraordinary commitment to community outreach and student engagement. The Symphony’s Dale A. McNulty Children’s Concert Series continues to introduce orchestral music to children and their families, gaining national prominence and media coverage. In 2024, Palm Beach Symphony held 105 specialized instrument coaching sessions with 183 school classes and offered 221 instructional contact hours while also providing residencies at various schools. The Symphony’s Todd Barron Instrument Donation Fund goes directly toward putting musical instruments into the hands of promising young musicians. In addition to refurbishing instruments, the Fund also enables the Symphony to purchase new instruments and accessories on an as-needed basis, as well as for upper-level instruments and accessories for the Symphony’s annual Lisa Bruna B-Major Award for high school seniors who will pursue music as their major in college. Since 2016, 680 instruments and more than 1,400 accessories and pieces of equipment were donated.

“We want to grow music education, empower students and ignite a lifelong journey in music,” said McClymont. “And with the community’s help in exceeding this matching grant we can continue to do just that.”

Palm Beach Symphony’s education programs are made possible through support from The Paul and Sandra Goldner Conservatory of Music, Jacqueline and Ray K. Farris, The McNulty Charitable Foundation, James R. Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui/Findlay Galleries, Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Foundation, Mr. William Robertson, Charles Frederick Schmidt, The Annette Urso Rickel Foundation, Edith Hall Friedheim/Eric Friedheim Foundation, PNC Foundation, The Walter & Adi Blum Foundation, Inc., James H. and Marta T. Batmasian Family Foundation Inc., Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation Inc., Komansky Foundation, Josephine DuPont Bayard, Al Zucaro, Yvonne S. Boice Trust and Lois Pope, with additional funding from Cultural Council for Palm Beach County Arts and Cultural Education Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Proud sponsors of Palm Beach Symphony include Cindy and Jerome Canty, Mrs. James N. Bay, Carol and Harold Baxter, C. Kenneth and Laura Baxter Foundation, Inc., JoAnne Berkow, Kathy Lee Bickham and John Bickham, Leslie Rogers Blum, Yvonne S. Boice Trust and Alfred Zucaro, Jeffrey and Tina Bolton, James R. Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui / FINDLAY Galleries, Jerome J. Claeys, Thomas and Carol Bruce, CIBC Private Wealth, Amy and John Collins, The Colony Hotel, CORPGOV, Suzanne Mott Dansby, The David Minkin Foundation, Michelle DuBois and James Roiter, Jacqueline and Ray K. Farris, Mary and Will Demory, Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Foundation,  Willard H. Dow and Kelly Winter, Dr. Richard and Diane Farber, Bill and Kem Frick/The Frick Foundation, Inc., Edith Hall Friedheim/Eric Friedheim Foundation, Gerry Gibian and Marjorie Yashar, Paul and Sandra Goldner, Douglas and Jo Gressette, Irwin and Janet Gusman, Walter Harper, Thomas E. Harvey & Cathleen P. Black Foundation, Doris Hastings Foundation, Carol S. and Joseph Andrew Hays, John Herrick, Addison Hines Charitable Trust, George Hines, HSS Florida, IPO Edge, Charles and Ann Johnson/The C and A Johnson Family Foundation, Elaine Kay, Aban and Percy Kavasmaneck, Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, Gary and Linda Lachman/The Lachman Family Foundation, Patricia Lambrecht/The Lambrecht Family Foundation, Lugano Diamonds, Donald C. McGraw Foundation, The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, The McNulty Charitable Foundation, Tish Messinger, David Moscow, Palm Beach Design Masters, Patrick and Milly Park/Park Foundation, Nancy and Ellis J. Parker, III, PNC Private Bank, Lois Pope, Provident Jewelry, Ari Rifkin/The Len-Ari Foundation, Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez, Annette Urso Rickel Foundation, Karen Hunt Rogers, The Honorable Ronald A. Rosenfeld, David Schafer, Seth Sprague Foundation, Robin B. Smith, Kimberly V. Strauss, Dodie and Manley Thaler and the Thaler/Howell Foundation, Don and Mary Thompson, Jerome and Carol Trautschold, Sieglinde Wikstrom/The Wikstrom Foundation, and The Ann Eden Woodward Foundation/James and Judy Woods.