Donate to NOTES 2020 today!

I have been playing the cello for more than three years. When I carry my cello places, people often mistake my cello case for a guitar case. But they are wrong.

I play the cello as part of the Primo strings orchestra in the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra (EYSO). This year, we are celebrating the 44^th season of EYSO with the theme MOVE. We have five orchestras, a brass choir, two percussion ensembles, and a chamber music program with nearly 350 students from fourth grade through college. We perform three concerts each year, and each concert explores a different connection between music and movement.

Our first concert was last fall, and this March we will perform Berceuse and Finale from Firebird by Igor Stravinsky with the Youth Symphony. It is a challenging piece and I am learning new techniques like tremolo. I love being part of EYSO and look forward to orchestra practice every week. To learn more you can visit EYSO.org to see our upcoming schedule or click here to view video clips from our first concert.

The EYSO is collecting donations now through April 5 as part of our annual fundraising campaign: NOTES. The purpose of the campaign is to encourage EYSO families to collect donations from friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and you! Tuition covers only one-third of the total cost of each member’s participation in EYSO. The NOTES campaign helps keep tuition reasonable and offsets program costs. You can donate online by credit card via my campaign page or mail a check directly to me. Once the NOTES campaign is complete, you will receive a donation acknowledgement from EYSO for tax purposes.

Please consider donating to EYSO to help us meet our goal. More importantly, it will help benefit everyone in EYSO. Maybe it will also help educate more people about the differences between cellos and guitars, and then the next time someone sees me with my cello case they’ll say, “Cool, you play cello!”

Thank you very much for your support!