The Atlanta Music Project Gilbert House-South Bend Orchestra ended its 2012-2013 season in style, with their spring concert taking place Sunday May 19 in the Altitude Ballroom of the W Atlanta Midtown Hotel.

The name Gilbert House-South Bend, comes from the combining of two of AMP’s after-school sites. The Gilbert House houses the orchestra’s string players while the South Bend Center for Art and Culture houses the wind players. The players then come together to perform as a symphony orchestra. The Gilbert House and South Bend Center for Art and Culture are City of Atlanta cultural centers, where our students rehearse two hours per day five days per week.

The AMP GH-SB Orchestra was led by AMP Orchestra Conductor, Christopher Thibdeau.  They performed several arrangements (many arranged by the AMP Teaching Artists) of the some of the standard orchestral repertoire, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Vivaldi’s Winter and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Performers and attendees were treated to beautiful floor-t0-ceiling views of Piedmont Park and Midtown Atlanta. In addition the clarinet section was featured in the Japanese Folk Song, Sakura. The strings also dazzled in Postcards From Russia and Fiddle Fever. The Concertmaster for this concert was third year AMP student Aldridge Castillo.

The concert was well attended with the audience numbers nearing 150. The W Atlanta Midtown were terrific hosts, setting up the performance space and even supplying a post-concert reception of cookies and lemonade. A big thank you to the W Atlanta Midtown.

Please watch the AMP website for fall registration information. There will be openings at both our Gilbert House and South Bend sites. We will be  looking for students between grades 1 and 8 who are curious, hard-working and can commit to attending all our after-school classes. AMP is a demanding after-school program, one that seeks to give our students the experience of achieving musical excellence. Prior musical experience is not a pre-requisite. The only thing we ask for is commitment. For more information on Fall 2014 registration please email us at info@atlantamusicproject.org or call us at (678) 235-4267.