Education & Outreach
The University of Chicago Presents is committed to bringing professional music performances to students in the Hyde Park area. Upon the inauguration of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Residency in 2005, UCP has benefited from the educational opportunities that it offers. The University is thrilled to have the SPCO share its CONNECT (Chamber Orchestra Neighborhood Network of Education, Curriculum, and Teachers) program with neighbors on the South Side of Chicago. CONNECT is a 1st-6th grade music-education outreach program, which places music in the context of other subjects in the curriculum. Thematically organized, the curriculum covers areas such as musical periods in the context of world history; the science of acoustics and music; and the role of music as cultural storyteller.The program provides a Teacher Training Workshop; four engaging newsletters for students; books and recordings; two classroom visits by SPCO musicians; a third classroom visit by a "Cultural Partner" or local musician who represents a type of music outside the Classical Western tradition; a music-making residency for a small group of students; and a school concert for all participants in Mandel Hall. All aspects of the program are entirely free to teachers and students.
The schools involved in the CONNECT program are members of an underserved population on the South Side of Chicago. The approximately 3,000 students with whom UCP has been privileged to work include an average of 75 percent low-income students. For the vast majority of students, CONNECT is the first time they have ever seen or heard classical music.
For more information, please contact the Concert Office at 773.702.8068.