From April 3, 2024 to April 7, 2024, the AMP Senior Youth Orchestra, under the direction of conductor John Young Shik Concklin, will travel to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. The orchestra will perform two concerts, both taking place at École Secondaire Publique De La Salle, a French, public high school boasting a renowned performing arts program known as the “Centre d’Excellence Artistique de l’Ontario” (CEAO). AMP Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dantes Rameau is an alumnus of De La Salle’s instrumental music program.

The AMP orchestra’s program will include music by two Black composers: “Danse Negre” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and “Visions of the Sky” by Adrian B. Sims. In an exciting artistic collaboration, The CEAO Senior String Orchestra will join the AMP Senior Youth Orchestra Strings on stage to perform two pieces: “Adoration” by Florence Price (a third Black composer) and the “Serenade for Strings in E Major Opus 22” by Antonín Dvořák. The Serenade for Strings will be co-conducted by Mr. Concklin and Jason Hutt, conductor of the CEAO Senior String Orchestra.

Additionally, the AMP Senior Youth Orchestra Winds will perform two pieces together with the KidPlayers (wind students) from Ottawa’s OrKidstra program. OrKidstra is a social development program that empowers kids from equity-deserving communities by teaching life skills through playing and singing music together. OrKidstra’s Co-Founder and Executive & Artistic Director Tina Fedeski will conduct the pieces.

The first concert will be a performance for the students of the high school on Thursday April 4. The second concert will be open to the public and take place on Friday April 5 at 7:00pm EST at De La Salle. Tickets to the Friday concert can be reserved here.