Over 30 children, ranging in age from 7 to 17, joined the Partners for Strings’ 2025 Youth Orchestra Afternoons in the Summer. The four-week summer program concludes on Friday, June 27 with a performance at the Emancipation Garden Gazebo at 5:30p.m.
Family, friends, and the community are invited to this free event to debut all the new recruits and some current members of the Partners for Strings Virgin Islands Youth Orchestra.
Partners for Strings, Inc. (PFS) is a 501(c)(3) organization that runs the Partners for Strings Virgin Islands Youth Orchestra–a free, year-round after-school music education program for at-risk youth ages 6 to 17. Founded by Gloria Gumbs in 2020, PFS offers training in orchestral instruments—including strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, and steel pan at G-Clef Music Academy in Mandela Circle on St. Thomas. G-Clef, established in 2011, is a year-round music school that provides private music lessons for all ages. It is the location where the weekly after-school orchestra sessions are being held. In 2021, PFS established an Alliance Partnership with Miami Music Project, one of the largest socially transformative music initiatives in the United States. PFS recently travelled to Miami to perform at Miami Music Project’s annual unCLASSICAL concert, where the youth orchestra premiered the U.S. Virgin Islands’ cultural sounds of Quelbe Music.
PFS annually holds its Youth Orchestra Afternoons in the Summer during the month of June to allow youth who are interested in joining the orchestra a chance to learn how to read music and start playing an instrument. The summer program takes place on weekdays, Tuesdays through Fridays (no Mondays) in the afternoons. Participants of all levels are learning how to play the violin, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, steel pan, drums and various other percussion instruments. The program entails music theory, sectional workshops, fun activities, and culminates with a performance event! PFS also added a free bonus feature for all the violin students. A two-week Musician’s Elevation Workshop was led by Gerson Medina, professional violinist and the assistant principal violist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
“It has been a delight to see the smiles and the energy of our young summer students. Each of them are eager to show the music that they’ve learned, as well as perform in our youth orchestra for the very first time,’ said Gloria Gumbs, President and Program Director of Partners for Strings,Inc. ‘Besides our amazing parents/guardians, Teaching Artists, Teaching Assistants, interns, and board of directors; an applause with many thanks goes to several additional supporters of this year’s Partners for Strings’ Youth Orchestra Afternoons in the Summer. They include: Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Gerson Medina, Thriving Charity Advocates, J. Benton Construction, LLC, Discover Fund Management, LLP, Cutlass and Cane Caribbean seafood, The Lost Turtle Gallery, MSI, St. Thomas Reformed Church, Bunker Hill Hotel, VI Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation, VI Housing Authority, and Street Level VI,” concluded Gumbs.
For more information about the Partners for Strings Virgin Islands Youth Orchestra, call (340) 228-1126 or visit www.partnersforstrings.org
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