Violinists Noah Geller (foreground) and Pala Garcia are among the students learning new rehearsal techniques in the Orpheus Institute.
Photo: by Andrew Yee

ACCESS ORPHEUS

Access Orpheus, for students, encompasses the Orpheus school education programs: arts education, arts exposure and arts engagement programs that enable young people to use Orpheus as a cultural resource and to engage in positive learning experiences in and through music, both in New York City and in locations where Orpheus tours.

For more information please email access@orpheusnyc.org.

New York's famed conductorless orchestra teaches conservatory students the arts of collaborative music-making and organizational efficiency.

Click above to read the feature from Symphony Magazine, September 2006

The Orpheus Institute provides students with instruction and experience in crucial arts leadership skill sets, from methods of musical communication to administrative problem solving. Together, Orpheus and our partner schools are helping to train a new generation of musical entrepreneurs, prepared to lead in an evolving 21st-century arts marketplace, by creating a unique working environment where student musicians are empowered to make their own artistic and career decisions.

Artists emerging from music conservatories today are entering an intensely competitive field comprised of orchestras and ensembles challenged to survive within a rapidly changing cultural landscape. Conservatories recognize the need to better prepare their graduates to develop the multiple skill sets that will allow them to become highly sophisticated participants in the organizations that will employ them. In addition to instrumental ability, orchestras are now seeking musicians who can demonstrate strengths in leadership, communication, and teamwork, and possess an awareness and facility with other facets of the music field, including education, marketing, fundraising, and management. Orpheus, with a history of artistic leadership spanning three decades, can provide an invaluable resource for emerging professionals and the conservatories that train them.

The Institute curriculum encompasses coachings from Orpheus musicians of student-led chamber orchestras, composer forums with Orpheus-commissioned composers, and career workshops dealing with topics such as non-profit governance, fundraising, marketing, artistic planning, and careers in music. Orpheus is seeking to expand the Orpheus Institute to other conservatories and university music departments. For more information, please contact institute@orpheusnyc.org.

Orpheus Institute Stresses Communication and Shared Leadership
The Juilliard Journal - Vol. XXII No. 3 - November 2006
By JOANNA FARRER

If you had walked into an orchestra rehearsal in Room 309 at Juilliard one evening last January, you would have seen mostly what is expected at a normal symphony rehearsal. There were rows of musicians seated in a semicircle, cases pushed under chairs (with a few water bottles nearby), and pencils ready on the stands. But a few things would have seemed unusual. No conductor was standing in the front of the ensemble—and instead of sitting quietly in their seats, the musicians were exchanging (and sometimes shouting) their opinions between sections, demonstrating ideas, and referring to full scores of the piece being rehearsed. This was a typical night of Orpheus-style rehearsal for the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra last year: slightly noisy, a little hectic, a lot of fun, and an incredibly inspiring, enlightening musical experience.

Now in its second year, the Orpheus Institute at Juilliard provides a variety of unique learning opportunities for students through classes, open rehearsals, and coachings. The culmination of the program this year will be performances by the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall this spring...

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