FRIENDS OF MUSIC MAKES DONATION TO BERKELEY CO. SCHOOLS ORCHESTRA PROGRAM
From Left: Linda Walker, Haylee Harding, and Eva DelGallo
The Friends of Music organization has donated two new violas to the Berkeley County Schools Orchestra Program.
The instruments were presented at a Friends of Music concert held the evening of March 25 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Shepherdstown.
On hand to receive the instruments were the Orchestra Program’s Director, Eva DelGallo, and one of her top students, Eighth Grader Haylee Harding from Musselman Middle School.
The violas are valued at $375 each, for a total of $750.
Friends of Music President Kenneth Mann said the donation of the violas is part of a larger effort by the Friends of Music to help support music education in local schools. He said the organization is dedicating a total of $3,500 to that purpose this year. He said the Friends are especially glad to be able to help the Berkeley Schools Orchestra Program because the Program’s quality and reach are so exceptional.
The Program, also known as the Berkeley County Strings Program, was initiated by Mrs. DelGallo in 1996 with a grant from the Millbrook Orchestra. It eventually moved under the umbrella of the Berkeley County Board of Education, with Mrs. DelGallo as its Director.
Under Mrs. DelGallo’s leadership, the Program has grown to employ five string teachers who provide string education to more than 600 students in four high schools, six middle schools and six intermediate schools across Berkeley County.
The Program also maintains two select orchestral ensembles for students: an All County High School Symphony Orchestra and an All County Middle School Chamber Orchestra. Both ensembles are highly regarded; the Middle School Orchestra placed second in the West Virginia State Orchestra Festival last year.
The Friends of Music is a Shepherdstown-based, non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence. It supports the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the only professional classical music orchestra in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and one of only three in such orchestras in the state.
