ASO Sympatico

Jackson Child Care
5201 Heming Avenue, Springfield

Sympatico is an intensive music education program run as a partnership between the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and the Alexandria City Public Schools.

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.

Support Alexandria Symphony Orchestra | Spring2ACTion 2023

04/26/2023

Donate TODAY!!! We are $800 away from reaching our goal to unlock $3000 for A*O Sympatico!

Support Alexandria Symphony Orchestra | Spring2ACTion 2023 I’m ready to support Alexandria Symphony Orchestra on April 26, 2023 during Spring2ACTion 2023. Learn more about Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and all the other organizations participating in Spring2ACTion 2023.

11/22/2022

Thank you, Maestro James Edward Ross and Maestra Negin Khpalwak for sharing your powerful music and story at our last Sympati-Family gathering! Congratulations Alexandria Symphony Orchestra for a truly remarkable concert.

11/22/2022

Video dump from our Old Town Farmer's Market Performance a few Saturdays back. What a lovely morning! Felt great to be out making music for the community. Thanks so much to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC for sponsoring the performance!

Spring2ACTion is finally here! Give now to support Sympatico and performances such as this!

https://www.spring2action.org/organizations/aso

04/27/2022

Please get the word (and link) out to help support our amazing Sympatico students!

Spring2ACTion is finally here! Give now to support Sympatico and performances such as this! https://www.spring2action.org/organizations/aso

05/30/2020

Make sure not to miss all of the hard work our 4th and 5th graders at John Adams and Patrick Henry put into making music virtually!

Join us LIVE on Facebook next week for A*O Sympatico’s Drop Party! They’ve been composing some incredible tracks and we’re excited to share!

04/28/2020

Our 5th graders had a great time connecting and making music with Mr. Dan, Mr. Pete, and Ms. Ari this morning, and can’t wait to see what the rest of the week brings!

What a fabulous first day with A*O Sympatico!

Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

02/26/2020

Our students had a great time working on this composition and can’t wait to perform it this May!!

01/29/2020

Our Mallet Machine had a great time playing alongside the new Executive Chef for ACPS this morning in our school kitchen!! They were up bright and early ready to smile and play for the camera, and of course liked sampling the french toast!

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/meet-alexandria-schools-first-executive-chef/2205499/

01/07/2020

This has been postponed... stay tuned to an update for the future date.

01/06/2020

Be sure to tune in to NBC4 this Wednesday, January 8th, to catch Mallet Machine joining the new Executive Chef of ACPS on TV!! The first live segment will be at 5:55 AM, and there will be 4 more between 6-7 AM. We can't wait for this opportunity!

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Location

Alexandria

Website

http://www.alexsym.org/education/sympatico

Address

301 King St
Alexandria, VA
22314

ASO Sympatico

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