“Tanesha Mitchell, one of 80 amateur musicians who participated in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Academy Week, describes the experience as life-changing,” writes Ravenna Koenig at NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog on Saturday (7/18). Onstage at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall last month, “Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra mixed with non-professional musicians…. It was part of a program called Academy Week that the orchestra has put on for the past six years…. ‘I’ve always loved the BSO since I was a little girl,’ Mitchell says…. ‘I realized they had scholarships available, and I jumped at the opportunity.’ … Mitchell doesn’t just play: She’s become a music teacher herself, giving lessons to local kids out of her home in West Baltimore.… Mitchell has an open-door policy, and encourages kids to come bang on the drums or mess around on the guitar, no matter their financial situation…. Mitchell stays in touch with her friends from the [Academy] year-round. Last year, she connected with one of the violinists in the orchestra. They’ve been doing private lessons ever since…. ‘It becomes part of you, who you are,’ Mitchell says…. ‘There were times when that violin stayed in the case for a year. But then that means you open it back up, and new things begin.’ ”
Posted July 20, 2015
