This Giving Tuesday, Make A Difference By Donating To The New Jersey Youth Symphony & New Jersey Youth Chorus Summer Tour Scholarship Fund To Make Summer 2023 Concert Tours To Italy & France A Reality

    BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ, November 29, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- "We are reaching out on a national level as we are confident that public support will help close the gap of only 17% of our 2023 summer concert tours budget through grassroots funding," said Peter H. Gistelinck, Executive Director at Wharton Arts. "The funds we will raise for our 2023 summer concert tours scholarship fund will allow all of our students to be part of this life-changing experience."

The New Jersey Youth Symphony and New Jersey Youth Chorus have already $574,000 committed for their Italy and France concert tours in the summer of 2023 but still need to raise up to $100,000 in scholarships to support all of the student musicians' participation in the American Celebration Concert Tour which will feature student presentations of music by diverse American composers including Omar Thomas, Margaret Bonds, and Jennifer Higdon for international audiences.

The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS), founded in 1979, is a tiered orchestral program offering ensemble education for students in grades 3-12 across New Jersey. NJYS has grown from one orchestra of 65 students to over 500 students in 15 different orchestras and ensembles, including the internationally recognized Youth Symphony. NJYS ensembles have performed in venues including the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Carnegie Hall, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

NJYS has received numerous prestigious awards for its adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and has had six European tours, including participation in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Festival and Competition (Vienna), winning First Prizes in July 2014 and 2017.

Founded in 1992 by Trish Joyce, the New Jersey Youth Chorus (NJYC), previously known as the Somerset Children's Chorus, is an auditioned choral program for children in grades 3-12 in five performing ensembles: Primo Coro (girls, grades 3-5), Sola Voce (girls, grades 6-8), Coro Vivo (boys with unchanged voices, grades 3-8), Camerata (boys with changing and changed voices, grades 7-12) and Coriste (girls, grades 9-12.) NJYC is home to choristers from throughout northern and central New Jersey.

NJYC takes prides in providing transformative musical education, as well as premier performance and touring opportunities. The chorus has performed with many professional ensembles such as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Brass, Chieftans, Celtic Tenors, Ronan Tynan, Marvin Hamlisch, Bill Conti, Barry Manilow, Cantus, and with Queen Latifah at Super Bowl XLVIII. NJYC has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center for the Arts, NJPAC, the Prudential Center, State Theatre New Jersey, and the White House.

The New Jersey Youth Symphony and New Jersey Youth Chorus are programs of Wharton Arts. Wharton Arts is New Jersey's largest non-profit performing arts education organization serving nearly 2,000 students of all ages and abilities through various classes and ensembles. In addition to the New Jersey Youth Symphony and New Jersey Youth Chorus, Wharton Arts also includes the Paterson Music Project and Performing Arts School.

Your tax-deductible donation will make a vital difference in having all of our students tour in the summer of 2023 to Italy and France with the New Jersey Youth Symphony and New Jersey Youth Chorus. These international concert tours are transformative experiences for our students, and we want you to be a part of making this possible through your generosity of donating.

Donate and learn more at any of these two GoFundMe links: https://gofund.me/cf379f68 (NJYS and NJYC) and https://gofund.me/a71f8751 (NJYS Jazz).

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