by Bridges Director, Betsy Ko After an exciting day of MeritFest performances on Thursday, Merit and Symphony Center staff woke up on Friday, May 1st and did it all over again. What a great way to end the week! Our second day of MeritFest 2009 featured performers from 28 Bridges sites who performed in one [...]
Entries Tagged as 'CPS'
MeritFest 2009 is off to a great start!
April 30th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Concerts, MeritFest
by Betsy Ko, Bridges Director Despite our worries about how the rain would affect the buses bringing students from 19 of our Bridges sites to Symphony Center this morning, everyone got there safely and with enough time to rehearse together to pull off a fabulous 90′ concert! Today’s program featured the performances of two large [...]
How do you get to Symphony Center?
April 26th, 2009 · 2 Comments · MeritFest
by Betsy Ko, Bridges Director At 10 AM on the first day of CPS’s spring break, approximately 40 students were neither sleeping in, nor playing video games. They were arriving at Merit’s home in the West Loop for a 2 hour rehearsal for MeritFest, our upcoming performance event at Symphony Center on April 30 and [...]
Tags:Beasley·CPS·Jackson·Kipling·LaSalle·Murray·PershingMagnet·Strings·StSabina
Merit’s band at Talcott becomes a family affair!
March 21st, 2009 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
Over my years of teaching in Merit’s continuum, I have become convinced of how essential it is for the parents of our students to understand what their children do in music class and how it can make a difference in their lives, both now and for the future. So I was delighted when Tom Bracy, [...]
Merit’s Associate Board Members Go Back to School with Bridges
February 13th, 2009 · No Comments · Site Visits
by James Erwin, Merit Associate Board Chairman It is just amazing and fantastic to see how the Merit faculty interact with Bridges students. Today, I joined several members of the Associate Board on a visit to a strings class taught by Dan Golden at the Jackson Language Academy in University Village. This visit was one [...]
Tags:AssociateBoard·CPS·Jackson·Strings
Alegre Strings in action at Whittier School
January 27th, 2009 · No Comments · Site Visits
“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro……show me a perfect bow hold!!!!” encouraged Merit instructor Daniela Pardo. From the looks of this photo, you might think that Bridges has added fencing to its program offerings, but I actually snapped this shot as Daniela’s viola students at Whittier Elementary were competing to see which team could complete the most [...]
Not your typical Tuesday
January 21st, 2009 · No Comments · Uncategorized
by Alicia Poot, Bridges Program Associate and Merit flute faculty member It’s a Tuesday night, the night of the week I am most drained and exhausted. I have a 14-hour day on Tuesdays, and Tuesday is sandwiched between a 10-hour Monday day and an 11-hour Wednesday. It’s no wonder I rarely can finish my Italian [...]
The Many Days of Bridges Holiday Concerts!
January 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Concerts, Stats
If only there had been 12 days of Bridges concerts, I would have had the best title ever for this post! All the same, Merit’s staff had a fun time getting out to as many Bridges concerts as we possibly could. We couldn’t help but smile as we heard spirited performances from our Bridges students [...]
Merit, CSO & Fidelity Invest in the Musical Talent at Hirsch HS!
January 5th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Concerts
With generous support by the Fidelity FutureStage program, we are now entering our second year of partnership with Hirsch Metro High School in the Grand Crossing community. Through the FutureStage program, Fidelity invests in the potential of high school students who will someday take center stage in our society. Arts education is the vehicle for this [...]
Burley Holiday Hoopla
December 18th, 2008 · No Comments · Concerts
burleyfrosty burleybells Merit has a very special partnership at Augustus Burley Elementary School in Lakeview because our various programs there reach students starting in pre-Kindergarten and build on this foundation to keep them involved in music-making, potentially throughout their entire career at Burley. Much praise goes to Principal Barbara Kent and the Friends of Burley [...]
