Projects & Performances

Since its inception in 1977 the Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation has developed and established many programs, enhancing the overall metro Atlanta community.

 
 

The Buckhead Youth Orchestra

The Buckhead Youth Orchestra, was founded in the year 2000 as an educational program under the auspices of the Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation, Inc., and has been endorsed by the Buckhead Coalition, Sam Massell, President.

This educational program provides an orchestral education and performance experience of pre-college and pre-professional caliber to talented young musicians selected by audition from the metro area of Atlanta and outlying areas of Atlanta. The Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation, Inc. conducts this program with a structure that closely follows the operation of a professional symphony, and is dedicated to providing and maintaining the highest standard of orchestral training. This orchestral program is a comprehensive musical curriculum, designed to provide an in-depth traditional, classical, and cultural music experience. Intensive preparation for public performance, development of basic technical skills, and professional coaching sessions are enhanced by local and regional concerto competitions, summer festivals, student scholarships and international concert touring.

The Buckhead Youth Orchestra is in residence at the Northwest Presbyterian Church, in north of Buckhead, and holds a series of concerts there and throughout the Atlanta area with the purpose of sharing a wide variety music with a very diverse audience. We seek alliance with other arts organizations and initiate proposals for collaborative concerts and projects. Among them are: The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, the Falany Performing Arts Center at Reinhardt College, the Atlanta Symphony Associates Decorator’s Show House, the Buckhead Business Association, the Starbright Children’s Foundation, CURE Childhood Foundation, the Consumer’s Choice Awards for Business Excellence, the Northwest Presbyterian Church and the Latin American Association.

The Buckhead Youth Orchestra members and alumni have the opportunity to travel internationally. Past concert tours include performances in 2004 at Collonges-sous Salève, France; the Principality of Monaco at the invitation of Prince Albert of Monaco; 2005 tour to Mexico performing in Puebla, Tehuacán and Tlaxcala. This year, the Buckhead Youth Orchestra joins the Atlanta Virtuosi faculty in its tour to Spain, with performances at the Costa Brava International Music Festival in Cataluña and in the city of Barcelona.

 
 

Music For Success

An outreach program for the Metro Atlanta Public School System

Music for Success! Is an educational program of the Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation, Inc., that encourages and supports artistic creativity in children by fostering an appreciation and understanding of instrumental music.

All children deserve an education in the arts, one that enables them to create, perform and communicate their human expressions. The National Endowment for the Arts has stated in their Strategic Plan FY 2003-2008, submitted to the Congress in February, 2003, that the arts are a core academic subject.

Music study makes a positive contribution to children’s academic achievement, confidence, analytical ability, interpersonal skills and creative potential. Music, as a universal non-verbal language, has the ability to cross all boundaries, whether imposed by economic condition, ethnic or social background or disability. Teaching music to young children ensures the preservation of an important cultural legacy in our community. Music makes an important difference, affecting children’s lives and the quality of their future involvement in society.

Today’s economic climate and budgetary constraints present the opportunity of finding ways to work toward a concerted and consistent effort in achieving the important goal of music education for every child. Today, many music programs in our public schools have been cut, and many more are in jeopardy nationwide. The Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation believes that music deserves the same attention and cultivation as language, reading, mathematics and science, for the reason and understanding that all children are born with creative imaginations and artistic curiosity.

In the wake of September 11th, the role of the arts became more central than ever; preserving and celebrating our democratic way of life. Across the entire USA, in many civic ceremonies large and small in remembrance of our nation’s recent tragedy, Americans turned to the arts to express the full range of their emotions. In song and speech, picture and verse, grieving for the fallen, the average citizen was ever mindful of the importance and power of the arts.

Many scientific studies reveal that there is a connection between learning in the arts and cognitive and language development. The National Association for Music Education assures us that arts learning activities prepare children and all students for careers whether in the arts or elsewhere. Musical talent can be nurtured in young artists of the future, and non-artists will apply skills acquired through arts education, such as self-critical analysis, decision making, problem solving, teamwork, and communication skills. Music education prepares youth not only for life, but for a life enriched by the arts.

 
 

Educational Concerts

Educational concerts for young children entitled “From Cri-Cri to Mozart”

This series of educational concerts is geared toward children with limited economic resources. All concerts are offered to children with an emphasis on Latino, Vietnamese and other minority constituencies, and are of great importance to those ethnicities in desperate need of cultural integration. This program, entitled “From Cri-Cri” to Mozart, celebrates the music of Mexican composer Francisco Gabilondo Soler, who, like Burl Ives, devoted all his life to writing music and stories for children. The format of mixed-media introduces singing, music and narration. The instrumental arrangements and stories have been adapted, edited and arranged by Juan Ramírez. He creatively links the songs and stories, using the music of such great masters as Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Villa-Lobos. The use of animal effects and percussion instruments offer an important and colorful canvas for the descriptive scores and stories.

 
 

Orchestral Studies Summer Program

Orchestral Studies: Total Immersion at Lake Arrowhead in Waleska, GA.

Total Immersion at Lake Arrowhead is a music program of Orchestral Studies for string and symphonic instruments. This intensive summer instrumental program takes place every year at Lake Arrowhead, where most of the students enrolled live on the premises and practice individually every day, have coaching sessions, performances, and mock college/orchestral auditions. This year’s summer program will be July 5th - 18th, 2009.

This unique program of Total Immersion emphasizes:

• ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUES FROM THE STANDARD ORCHESTRAL REPERTOIRE
• ORCHESTRAL TECHNIQUES AND FINGERINGS
• AUDITION PREPARATION FOR YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS,
• ALL-STATE, GHP, AND UNIVERSITY/ CONSERVATORY STUDY
• AUDITON PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES
• AUDITION SKILLS THROUGH MOCK AUDITIONS
• PERFORMANCE AND RECITAL EXPERIENCE

 
 

Scholarship Opportunities

Scholarship Opportunities for young music students.

Scholarship programs include the Parvaneh Mehdian Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Suzanne Clark Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Regional Young Artists Concerto Competition, and educational children concert activities to a population of children who do not have access to the arts. This past year over 50% of the members of the Buckhead Youth Orchestra received full scholarships and summer study opportunities.

 
 

Festival Latino

Festival Latino “Latin Festival” (Formerly Hispanic Festival of Music and the Arts)

“Festival Latino” made its premiere performance in Waleska, GA, in April of 2006 at Reinhardt College. This year the Festival will take place in the metropolitan city of Atlanta. Founded in 1990, the Festival celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Latino population through musical performances, lectures and art exhibitions.

PROGRAM I - Thursday, April 20, 7:00 pm “NOSTALGIA LATINA”

Pre-concert Talk: “The Evolution of Latin American Popular Music and Dance”

Traditional and Romantic Songs of Latin America, Ruth Ramírez, Soprano; David Ramírez, Tenor; Tango Dancers and the Atlanta Virtuosi. Featuring the popular songs of Agustín Lara; Rafael Hernández, María Grever, Carlos Gardel; Astor Piazzolla; Carmelina Delfín; Ernesto and Ernestina Lecuona.

PROGRAM II - Friday, April 21, 7:00 pm “RITMO LATINO”

Pre-concert Talk: “Classical and Folk Dances from the Mexican Huasteca”

RAMÍREZ: SUITE LATINA for String Quartet featuring members of the Atlanta Ballet Company, Armando Luna, Choreographer. RAMIREZ: SUITE HUASTECA featuring Grupo Huaxtecapan, Patricia Florencia Pulido, Director; and the Atlanta Virtuosi.

PROGRAM III - Saturday, April 22, 7:00 pm “MEXICO PREHISPANICO”

Pre-concert Talk: “The Music and Poetry of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlán”

RAMÍREZ: ANAHUAC* A tone poem for Tenor, Soprano, Chorus, Orchestra and Aztec Percussion Instruments. RAMIREZ: CALMECAC** for Dancers and Amerindian Percussion Instruments (World Premiere) Members of the Atlanta Ballet Company, Armando Luna, Choreographer and the Atlanta Virtuosi.

*The Aztec word for this continent. This composition was world premiere and commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad that accompanied the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta as part of the MEXICO A Cultural Tapestry.

**Aztec Noblemen sent their sons to the Calmecac School to become priests, magistrates and warriors. The young men learned to read sacred books, perform Aztec ceremonies, and carry out civil and military functions with exactness.

PROGRAM IV - Sunday, April 23, 7:00 pm “MISA FOLKLORICA”

Pre-concert Talk: “New Musical Forms Introduced In the Catholic Mass”

RAMÍREZ: SUITE CRIOLLA

Guest Narrator: Robert Paine

For Tenor, Chorus, Orchestra, Latin American Percussion and Narrator.

David Ramírez, Tenor; The Reinhardt College Chorus; The Buckhead Youth Orchestra; The Reinhardt Symphony Orchestra; Robert Paine, Narrator.

 
 

International Concert Tours

1985: Tour to Mexico - concerts in Puebla, Mexico City and National University of Mexico.

1986: First European Concert Tour to Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

1988: Second European Concert Tour to Spain and Italy.

1992: FESTIVAL HISPANO at the University of Mexico in Madero/Tampico, Tamaulipas

2004: Third European Concert Tour at the invitation of Prince Albert of the Principality of Monaco.
Concerts in Collonges-sous-Salève, France and the principality of Monaco and Monte Carlo

2005: Concert Tour to Mexico. Concerts in Tlaxcala, Puebla and Tehuacán.

2005: Concert Tour to Mexico: Educational Concerts “From Cri-Cri to Mozart” in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato and Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala.

2008: Concerts in Pánuco, Veracruz in the 08EXPO National Festival of the Huapango. This presentation was made possible by an invitation from the Governor of the State of Veracruz, Mr. Fidel Herrera Beltrán.

2008: Fourth European Concert Tour

In June 2008, the Atlanta Virtuosi presented concerts entitled “MUSIC OF THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS” in Barcelona and the Costa Brava International Music Festival.