FRIENDS OF MUSIC RECEIVE ARTS GRANT

The Friends of Music announced today they have received an arts grant totaling $8,306.

The grant was awarded by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. The funds will be used to support the Friends’ Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra during the upcoming 2018-2019 Friends of Music concert season. The season, which begins with a first concert on October 6, will include three concerts by the Orchestra, a small ensemble concert and an organ recital. All of the concerts will be held in Shepherdstown’s Trinity Episcopal Church. Season details will be announced in August. The Friends have received similar grants from the same agencies for the past two years.
“We’re delighted and honored to receive financial assistance once again from the Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment,” said Friends of Music board president Linda Walker. “We’re working hard to provide high-quality classical music to the community, and this grant will be a big help.”
The Friends of Music are a nonprofit organization founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence in the region.
The Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra was established by the Friends of Music in 2007 and has been sustained by the Friends since its inception. It is the only professional classical music orchestra in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and one of only three in the state.
The Orchestra’s Music Director, Jed Gaylin, has served in that post since 2012. He is also the Music Director of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore and the Bay Atlantic Symphony in New Jersey, as well as artist-in-residence at New Jersey’s Stockton University.