Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's Tune Up Philly to Put on Free Concert

The talented young musicians of Tune Up Philly (TUP), The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO)'s community engagement program ensemble, will perform at Temple Performing Arts Center (TPAC) on Saturday May 27, 2017 presenting its 7th Annual Festival Concert at 1 p.m. This event is free and will be held at TPAC located at 1837 North Broad Street, Philadelphia.

The TUP concert will be conducted by Director/Arranger, Paul Smith. The concert presents music that ranges from the orchestra canon, throwback soul tunes and popular themes. TUP focuses on creating and inspiring true community by providing 1st to 8th grade students in under-resourced communities with invaluable opportunities to learn and perform a differentiated orchestral music curriculum.

The Festival Concert, specially arranged by Smith, is designed to highlight TUP's many components, allowing every student to shine. Smith reflects on the importance of TUP, and said, "It is very fulfilling to watch the students grow throughout the year and to know that TUP provides such an enriching experience to students of all backgrounds. Our students demonstrate the positive difference involvement in performing arts has made to their lives."

With the Temple Performing Arts Center (TPAC) as a community partner, TUP can help expand the vision of the students as they see their potential in this college setting.

For more information, visit www.pyos.org or call 215.545.0502.

Now concluding its 77th year, training tomorrow's leaders, the renowned Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization, led by President and Music Director, Maestro Louis Scaglione, is one of the nation's oldest and most respected community music education and youth orchestra performance programs, providing talented young musicians from across the tri-state area with exceptional musical training. Students go on to excel in many diverse fields, and it is with pride that Philadelphia Youth Orchestra notes that many members of the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra are alumni. The organization is comprised of six program ensembles designed to meet specific needs and experience levels of students selected through a competitive audition process. The anchor group is the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO), conducted by President and Music Director Louis Scaglione, featuring 120 gifted instrumentalists who range in age from 14-21. Young musicians 12-18 years old are featured in PYO's companion ensemble, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, which is led by Director and Conductor Maestra Rosalind Erwin, who is Music Director and Conductor of Drexel University Orchestra. Philadelphia Young Musicians Orchestra (PYMO), directed by Maestro Kenneth Bean, is a beginning to intermediate-level full symphonic orchestra that provides most students with their first introduction to large orchestral playing featuring students age 10-17 years old. Bravo Brass, directed by Curtis Institute Dean of Faculty and Students, Paul Bryan, is an all brass ensemble for promising middle and high-school instrumentalists. PRYSM (Philadelphia Region Youth String Music) and PRYSM Young Artists ensembles provide string large ensemble and sectional master class instruction for beginning and intermediate musicians ages 6-14. The director and conductor of PRYSM is Gloria DePasquale, cellist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and conductor of PRYSM Young Artists is Andrea Weber. Tune Up Philly (TUP) is PYO's engagement program, directed by Paul Smith, that focuses on creating and inspiring true community by providing children in under-resourced communities with invaluable opportunities to learn and perform a differentiated orchestral music curriculum. Visit www.pyos.org.