The Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra

The Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra is a key contributor to the musical education of Central Virginia. Its goal of teaching and engaging musicians at every stage of their development has provided unique opportunities for tens of thousands of young men and women over the past 35 years. Each year the orchestra brings talented musicians into each public school in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and present programs specifically tailored to the schools’ needs at no cost.

The student’s involvement in these school programs creates an avenue for personal achievement, a greater understanding of music and its role in our rich culture and history, a lifelong skill, and a growth in spatial reasoning. Preludes reaches 4,500 children through 90 school visitations each year. Your investment of $3.68 per child or $184.17 per visit can build the foundation for a lifetime of musical appreciation.

Working with each school, special emphasis is placed on developing a curriculum that meets the Virginia Standards of Learning, thereby making the orchestra’s outreach relevant to what the students are experiencing in their classrooms. Elementary schools typically request instrument demonstrations. These programs familiarize students with the families of instruments and basic musical concepts. For middle and high school students, Preludes offers brief demonstrations followed by group and/or individual coaching and master classes to further local students’ musical training through hearing and interacting with a master on a particular instrument. Examples of programs include:
• Master classes for middle/high school: 2-20 students
• Elementary school classroom visitation: 40-70 students (2 classes per visit)
• Demonstration and performance for a high school band/orchestra: 60+
• Performance for entire grade level: 60+
• Demonstration for up to half of a school, such as grades K-2: 180

For more information about the Orchestra and its initiatives throughout Central Virginia, please contact:

Thomas Millisor at 434.243.2513 or thomasmillsor@virginia.edu