A*O Sympatico was born out of a commitment to education, the youth of Alexandria, and social justice. In 2012, various members of the A*O staff and board, including Music Director Kim Allen Kluge, began thinking about the best way for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra to give back to its community. After learning about the growth of El Sistema-inspired programs around the United States, the A*O be
gan looking for local models that it could learn from. It connected with Dan Trahey, Artistic Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids program. Dan, along with A*O Executive Director Jessica Wisser and numerous members of the A*O’s Board of Directors, decided to test drive the concept in the Alexandria City Public Schools. This resulted in two week-long workshops that engaged music faculty and students at John Adams Elementary School. In December 2013, the A*O held a bucket band workshop led by percussionists Brian Prechtl and Pete Tashjian. In March 2014, musicians from the London-based Creative Connections project led John Adams students in a workshop, culminating in John Adams students sharing the stage with the A*O at its March 2014 concert. Simultaneously, and independent of the A*O, music educators at John Adams were building the school’s musical capacity. A strong foundation was already in place as a result of Wes McCune’s 20+ year tenure with the Orff Ensemble, which had long been a staple at John Adams. Adding to this rich history, music teachers Emily Smith and Lindsey Serrao established their own ensembles in 2013 – the Singing Eagles and Strings at Sunrise, respectively. With the 2013-2014 year behind them, the teachers at John Adams and the A*O looked ahead to creating a firm partnership. In October 2014, the A*O hired Asif Majid, a student and practitioner of the performing arts as a social justice practice, as Education Program Director. Having worked with Dan Trahey at OrchKids and studied the El Sistema model, Asif set about crafting and implementing a vision for sustainable program growth while accentuating the uniqueness of the A*O Sympatico program. Two more ensembles, Keetman and JABBA, were added to Sympatico as the program’s mission was embraced by the John Adams community and developed into a sense of forward-moving momentum.
