Starting June 1 the Greater Miami Youth Symphony will be sharing space in the education building for their administration office. We thank Karen Picciano for bringing RPC and GMYS together. Also some of our youth, Leah Picciano and Nicole Prieto, have performed with the GMYS in the South Florida community.

Founded as the All­-Miami Youth Symphony by Robert Strassburg in 1958, the Greater Miami Youth Symphony was created to foster a love of music in young people and to enrich the cul­tural life of the community. GMYS is an independent five­level orchestra program dedicated to training young musicians between 5 and 18 years of age. Conceived as a complementary facet to musical instruction in the schools, GMYS has continuously succeeded in presenting high caliber performances to South Florida audiences.

The mission of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony “GMYS” is

1. to instill life­long values of discipline, teamwork, responsibil­ity, respect, and cultural appreciation in young musicians, ages five through eighteen, through learning, rehearsing, and performing in a professional, positive environment.
2. to enrich the cultural foundation of our community by reaching out to and recruiting young mu­sicians from different cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds.
3. to train young people through teaching, rehearsals, and performances to function together as first rate orchestras, and ensembles that bring the communities together in outstanding music performances.

Today, GMYS serves over 600 students in seven beginning instrument classes, four orchestras, and concert/jazz band, and over 300 students in the GMYS Summer Music Camp. GMYS is also the Youth Artist in Residence at the Deering Estate at Cutler and was a finalist in 2009, 2010, and 2011 for a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

For more information about GMYS, see the GMYS website at www.gmys.org.

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