Overture Magazine: 2016-2017 Season September - October 2016 | Page 6

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The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

NEWS OF NOTE

Brian Prechtl, at left
and above, mixes
instruction with fun
when it comes to
OrchKids.

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Bucket list
A minimalist experiment becomes a hit in Charm City.
When Brian Prechtl was with the Fort Wayne
Philharmonic, in Indiana, he got a call from a
woman looking to start a music program in the
schools. The budget was minimal, so Prechtl
went to the local Home Depot and bought
a bunch of plastic buckets for kids to use as
makeshift drums.
Now, 25 years later, Prechtl, a percussionist
with the BSO, spends four or five afternoons a
week at three different Baltimore City schools,

teaching and rehearsing with OrchKids. The
bucket band has become a hit in Charm City,
and performs at sports arenas and fundraisers,
including the BSO Centennial Gala
last February.
Recently, Prechtl became one of only five
exemplary orchestral musicians in the United
States selected by the League of American
Orchestras to receive The Ford Musician
Award for Excellence in Community Service.

A new program made possible by the
Ford Motor Company Fund, the awards
celebrate the essential work musicians do
in their communities.
Prechtl, a passionate advocate for music
education, sees OrchKids as much more than
music education. “A lot of people think it’s about
teaching kids instruments,” he says of the program, started by Music Director Marin Alsop in
2008. “But it’s a program for social change.”

The Ford Musician Award for Excellence
in Community Service

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A Gift to Baltimore City Schoolchildren

Patricia and
Mark K. Joseph

4 O v ertur e |

www. bsomusic .org

Thanks to a $1.2 million gift from Patricia and Mark K. Joseph and The Shelter
Foundation, more Baltimore City Public School students than ever before will experience
BSO concerts at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. “Every student in this city should
have exposure to art, music, and literature,” says Mark Joseph, who, along with his wife
Patricia, have also made generous gifts to support education programs at the Baltimore
School for the Arts and the Baltimore Museum of Art. $1.15 million of the gift, in honor
of philanthropists Rheda Becker and Robert E. Meyerhoff, establishes the Patricia and
Mark K. Joseph Music Education Fund for City Schools Students. The remaining $50,000
goes to OrchKids in honor of program founder Marin Alsop.