Wharton Arts celebrates the New Jersey Youth Symphony’s 45th Anniversary Season with an exciting Alumni Weekend, May 4-5, 2024, and 45th Anniversary Concert on Sunday, May 5, at 3:00 p.m. at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
Throughout the 2023-24 season, NJYS honors its vibrant history and bright future with premieres of new compositions and beloved music from the inaugural season in 1979. Alumni are warmly invited to perform alongside current students at the 2024 Playathon and spring concerts in May.
During the month of December, Wharton Arts presents exciting
concerts and events embodying the holiday spirit with the Wharton Players’
production of Beauty and the Beast Jr., New Jersey Youth
Chorus’ Readings and Carols, the Holiday Kids-for-Kids Choral Festival by
the Paterson Music Project Choir, and the All That Jazz
Holiday Concert featuring the NJYS Youth Symphony and Jazz Orchestra. In
addition to performances, Wharton Arts has planned an informative Parent Circle
Series, offering insights into supporting student musicians. These discussions
cover a range of topics, including preparing college applications and
supporting neurodiverse children in their study of music.
Wharton Arts’ mission is to offer accessible, high quality performing arts education that sparks personal growth and builds inclusive communities.
Wharton Arts’ vision is for a
transformative performing arts education in an inclusive community to be
accessible for everyone.
Wharton Arts is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving nearly 2,000 students through a range of classes and ensembles. The 5 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Chorus, an auditioned choral ensemble program for students in grades 3–12, encourage a love and appreciation of choral music while nurturing personal growth and creative development. The 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve over 500 students in grades 3–12 by audition, inspire young people to achieve musical excellence through high-level ensemble training and performance opportunities. Based in Paterson, the Paterson Music Project is an El Sistema-inspired program of Wharton Arts that uses music education as a vehicle for social action by empowering and inspiring young people to achieve their full potential through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing. From Pathways classes for young children to Lifelong Learning programs for adults, the Wharton Performing Arts School has a robust musical theater and drama program and offers both private and group classes for instruments and voice for all ages and all abilities. With the belief in the positive and unifying influence of music and that performing arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay, Wharton Arts offers need-based scholarships.
Wharton Arts is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence,
and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 12 counties. All of Wharton Arts’
extraordinary teaching artists, faculty members, and conductors hold degrees in
their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable our
students to achieve their personal best.
