The Long Island Lesson Program Evolves into the Ascenté Chamber Orchestra

The D’Addario Foundation’s Long Island Lesson Program has evolved to become the Ascenté Chamber Orchestra, its own El Sistema program that provides robust, free music education to kids in the Copiague, New York community, where many factory employees of D’Addario & Company reside.

Beginning September 17, private lessons and ensemble rehearsal will be provided to students two times per week at the D’Addario & Company Headquarters in Farmingdale, Long Island. Kelly Flynn will be the Ascenté Chamber Orchestra’s Program Administrator and Educational Director. She will also be teaching lessons alongside Tommy Wu and Stacy Szabo to all participating students.

“Our own El Sistema-inspired direct service program is something incredibly significant to our organization. While we do our best to have an active relationship with the hundreds of not-for-profit music instruction programs we support each year all over the country, this particular program is in our own backyard and was inspired by our desire to give back to our local community,” says Suzanne D’Addario Brouder, executive director of the D’Addario Foundation. “We have witnessed firsthand what it means to create a community around something as meaningful as music education, and have been able to watch these students achieve and grow in their music, academic and social/emotional development. The experience has been enlightening and as grantmakers funding similar programs all over the world, it brings us a different level of understanding and compassion for this work.”

The Ascenté Chamber Orchestra is registered as a member of the El Sistema USA network and will be solely operated by the D’Addario Foundation. The team at Harmony Program NYC in years past assisted with the management of the program and helped to identify the wonderful instructors.