Help us to achieve our goal to educate, inspire and encourage people of all ages in the enjoyment and the playing of music. It’s a responsibility we take seriously, because we know it makes a difference.
What is the Allegro Education program?
Our Allegro program brings music and teaching resources to more than 40,000 children including secondary students, teachers and adults through an extensive range of innovating activities including:
Professional Development Program for Teachers
The Orchestra’s education staff run skill development seminars throughout NSW for classroom teachers, ensuring that students are given the best possible start to an education in music. We firmly believe that the Sydney Symphony’s responsibility to young people begins with its responsibility to school teachers. With the vast majority of general classroom teachers having little or no training in teaching music, we have an important role to play in developing the skills and confidence that will enable teachers to give their students the best possible start in learning about music. The seminars (accredited by the NSW Institute of Teachers) are a wonderful forum for teachers to spend time together, working through strategies and activities that they can use to teach the music syllabus. The take-away Teaching Kit, which includes curriculum-aligned lesson plans and activities, provides a framework for the classroom and helps prepare students for the live concert they will attend later in the year.
Sydney Sinfonia's Schools Concerts
These concerts are for primary, secondary and HSC students. Each performance introduces concepts that are also linked to the NSW music syllabus. By the time the students attend the concert, they are ready for an interactive performance which shows them how to ‘unpack’ the music. That is, the concerts break down complex musical concepts into separate components, demonstrating how the composer has put the music together. Through this process, we also introduce students to the orchestra’s families of instruments and show how each one is used to create particular colours or effects. It is not a rare sight to see 400 students, and their teachers, stamping their feet, singing, clapping, tapping, clicking their fingers in time to a complicated rhythm accompanied by a full orchestra. It is in embodying the music that students are able to maintain it, treasure it, and, we hope, come back to it throughout their lives.
Meet the Music
The Meet the Music series is the main stage concert big brother of the Schools’ Concert series. It takes the fundamentals of the Schools concerts, syllabus links and information for unpacking concepts, and transports them to the traditional concert setting, the Sydney Opera House concert hall. This series is specially tailored for year 11 and 12 students – giving them an outstanding opportunity to see the works they study performed live by a full strength Sydney Symphony.
Discovery Series for Adults
Music education does not have to end with a graduation ceremony – the pursuit of knowledge and its enhancement of music enjoyment in adults is the recognised mission of the Discovery series. This subscription series presented by Richard Gill and performed by the Sydney Sinfonia provides a way to ‘unpack’ the works of the great composers as well as contemporary music.
Who does it help?
Even as an adult it was amazing to experience Sydney Symphony’s Schools Concerts. It is something our children have very little exposure to. The students were highly engaged, it got them talking about music and they saw first-hand the range of sounds / instruments. Thank you from the students, myself and my principal.
Sharon Smalley, Warwick Farm Public School
Like the students at so many schools throughout NSW, most at Warwick Farm had never been to a symphony orchestra concert. Many had never heard the range of orchestral instruments played live, and it is possible that without the Sydney Symphony Schools Concerts they would never have that opportunity.
What your gift can do
Some examples of what can be achieved over twelve months with your tax-deductible gift are as follows:
• $20 per month provides a subsidy that will enable 120 children from PSFP schools to attend a Schools Concert
• $35 per month provides Professional Development Seminar fee scholarships for 5 teachers from PSFP schools
• $50 per month covers production costs for one day of Schools Concerts (2–3 performances)
• $65 per month hires the Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre for one day
How do I make a gift?
You can make your donation online via our secure donations page, over the phone by credit or by sending a cheque to the Philanthropy Office.
The Sydney Symphony is an endorsed charitable institution, Deductible Gift Recipient and member of the Register of Cultural Organisations. Gifts of more than $2.00 are tax-deductible.
If you would like to discuss your gift with a member of the Orchestra’s Philanthropy team please contact:
Kylie Anania
Philanthropy & Public Affairs Executive
Phone: 02 8215 4625
Email: philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com