The KCO’s connections to the youth of Lower Manhattan are strong and wide. We have visited PS 150 (Tribeca), PS 234 (Tribeca), PS 1 (Chinatown), PS/IS 126 (Lower East Side), PS 3 (West Village), PS 397 (South Street Seaport), the Peck Slip School (South Street Seaport), PS 276 (Battery Park City), PS/IS 89 (Battery Park City), Stuyvesant High School, and Millennium High School. We’ve brought musical presentations to the Trinity School, Grace Church School and to the families of Battery Park City in a partnership with the Battery Park City Authority. We’ve collaborated with the Tap City Youth Ensemble of the American Tap Dance Foundation and with youth soloists of the Florentine Music School.

Since the orchestra’s founding in 2008, the KCO has brought chamber ensembles into lower Manhattan public schools, offering free, interactive programs such as:

  • Intro to the Orchestra! - Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf

  • String Fever! - Music for String Instruments, from Bach to Hoe-down

  • You Go, U.S.A.! - Patriotic Music of America

  • Music of Americana! - America’s Traditional Home-grown Music

  • Opera is for Everybody! - Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel

  • Lift Every Voice! - Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black History Month

  • Dancin’ Feet! - The Roots of Tap (with members of The American Tap Dance Foundation)

  • Classical Music Matters! - How and Why Classical Music Moves Us

  • Blast Off with Brass! - KCO Brass Ensemble Blows the Roof Off

  • Wonder Women of Classical Music! - Music by Women Composers, performed by the women of the KCO

  • Music of Our Sphere! - Celebrate Earth Day with Music about our Earth and Beyond

  • Celebrating the Music of America’s Black Culture! - Music by Black Composers, performed by Black members of the KCO

Our presentations are generally 35 to 45 minutes in length and consist of performances interspersed with anecdotes and entertaining talks on music history and theory.

School administrators and music directors wishing to inquire about a visit from the KCO may contact KCO Manager Anne Kuite through the form below, or by sending an email to annek@knickerbocker-orchestra.org.

OUR GOAL IS TO TEACH CHILDREN TO APPRECIATE THE BEAUTY OF CLASSICAL MUSIC, AND PERHAPS REAWAKEN THEIR PARENTS’ CONNECTIONS TO CLASSICAL MUSIC.