Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony’s Young Musicians program teaches music, life skills
Inside a portable classroom at Trinity Basin Preparatory near Redbird, flutist Caely Rodriguez practices keeping her triplets to time.
She sits in a room full of elementary and middle school flutists and clarinetists who are rehearsing the Christmas piece Paseo Navideno.
“Can I hear you at 12 and take the first ending? First flute” says instructor Laura Kidder as her fingers crisply snap to the tempo in the way only music teachers can.
Caely is one of about 300 students who are a part of the Kim Noltemy Young Musicians Program, which provides free lessons and instruments to students in southern Dallas. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays year-round, the program teaches students at five southern Dallas locations: Ebby Halliday Elementary, Maria Moreno Elementary, Ascher Silberstein Elementary, Trinity Basin Prep Ledbetter campus, and Owenwood Farm & Neighborhood Space.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the program, which has survived the pandemic and provided free arts education as programs across the state have faced budget cuts. Fort Worth ISD cut $1.2 million from its upcoming visual and performing arts budget for the 2024-25 school year, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Ashley Alarcon, the program’s manager of teaching and learning, said cuts to arts education make her feel a greater responsibility for the work being done through the program.
While students are learning their octaves and key signatures, Alarcon said the program’s overarching goal is to “[instill] values that make you an aware citizen.”
“Being a citizen that’s aware in this world requires a sense of humility because you want to see beyond yourself to what other people are doing and embrace their talents,” she said.
Music education has proved to have positive effects on adolescents, like increased confidence, creativity and mental and emotional well-being, according to a 2023 research study from the University of Southern California.
Students in the program learn life lessons, including how to embrace and encourage their neighbors, accept their strengths and weaknesses, and show up on days they don’t want to.
Caely, 11, has been in the Young Musicians program since she was just 6. She’s connected with teachers and new friends, especially clarinetists and fellow flutists.
“You learn that you have to come prepared every day, be quiet while everybody else is playing. It helps in the majority of my classes where you just have to be quiet or be disciplined to bring your stuff and not lose any of it,” she said.
The sixth grader said with the help of Alarcon she’s also learned to overcome one of her biggest challenges.
“I played it over and over again until I wouldn’t stop even if I heard a mistake. After I did that a couple of times, I would write down what I did wrong on the piece, and I would write that while I was playing it. So that’s how I overcame that,” she said.
Mariana Lara, 12, is a seventh grader who’s been playing the violin for two years in the Young Musicians program. She said she’s learned how to be patient with herself through practicing the violin.
These days, she’s been working on her vibrato, a challenging technique in which violinists rock their fingers back and forth to subtly change pitch and add richness to their sound.
“In any music that they give us, if it’s hard or a specific part, I have to really go over it to get it right. Sometimes that’s difficult because it gets frustrating for myself,” she said.
Behind the scenes, more than 25 music teachers champion the students’ growth. One of those educators, Roy Gonzalez, has been teaching trombone and trumpet at the program’s Trinity Basin Prep Ledbetter Campus for the last four years.
Gonzalez previously taught at the college level, but now the Young Musicians program has been a special opportunity to teach students who are starting with a blank slate.
“I like that challenge to help give them the best tools from the ground up,” he said. “So when they go to middle school or high school, they have solid fundamentals. They know how to play and they know how to make a beautiful sound.”
He said the program presents challenges because it serves students of all different skill levels and in mostly group settings. But Gonzalez said he’s seen many young musicians in the program improve rapidly. One of his students, a trumpet player, started three months ago and is already playing two-octave scales.
One of his favorite memories from the program was watching the students perform in a concert last fall. Gonzalez said his students make fun of him for crying often, and it was another occasion when he proved them right.
“It’s one of the biggest improvements I’ve heard in such a short period of time. I feel like things were actually clicking in the teaching, clicking in el sistema and they just sounded so beautiful. I just teared up,” he said.
Those performances are made possible by consistent rehearsals. While dark has fallen outside, students gather inside the main room of the portable at Trinity Basin Prep to rehearse Brahms’ “Tragic Overture.”
The tremolo of the violins fills the room as the wind instruments bellow out. Before long, the rolling thunder of the timpani and slashing chords announce the big finale. As soon as the conductor’s hand falls, the room fills with the rumble of chatting and packing up.
Tomorrow, the students will return to do it all over again.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
FIFA World Cup 2026 isn’t the only international competition in Dallas this summer. The Dallas International Piano Competition, hosted by the Dallas Chamber Symphony, will present its final round of competition on June 23 at Moody Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District. The finals will feature three finalists, each playing a concerto with the Dallas Chamber Symphony.
The orchestra established its international instrument competitions in 2012, only one year after its founding. Every other year, the orchestra hosts a piano competition. Next year, the competition will feature violinists. The competition has grown significantly throughout the years.
“We had 172 applicants this year. So, that’s an increase. It continues to increase, especially since the pandemic. The events have really bounced back. It’s kind of going full steam ahead since things generally paused during the pandemic. We’ve got top-notch applicants,” said Richard McKay, Dallas Chamber Symphony’s Artistic and Music Director. “In all, we’re just really happy that the level of the competition continues to increase year after year.”
Mitch Lazorko Mitch Lazorko During the final round of the competition, three finalists will play a concerto with the Dallas Chamber Symphony.
Like the World Cup, the competitors are from around the world.
“I think we had applicants from roughly 20 different countries. And many of them already have a home base in the United States, even though they’re from elsewhere. So, maybe they have recently graduated from an American conservatory or currently enrolled and looking to start a career,” McKay said.
With the World Cup in town, this year’s Dallas International Piano Competition is a different experience for the pianists.
“FIFA has really been a complexifier this year for us, because we have all these people traveling to Dallas at the same time that everyone else is traveling to Dallas. They’re all needing to stay in Dallas at the same time everyone else is staying in Dallas. They’re going to experience busy traffic and events happening constantly so I’m sure their experience is quite a bit different from a normal year, but we’re making it through. We’ve got everyone lined up. we’ve got what they need to be successful during the competition places to stay and a great orchestra to perform with. So, all the hard work’s been done. Now it’s just time to make a great concert,” McKay said.
The competition began quarterfinals on June 18 at Murchison Performing Arts Center in Denton. The jury for the final round of the competition at Moody Performance Hall consists of James Giles, coordinator of the piano program and director of music performance graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music; Elinor Freer, the Associate Professor of Piano and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music; and Alexandre Moutouzkine, the co-head of the piano department at Manhattan School of Music. The audience will have a say as well when they get to vote for an audience favorite.
“They love voting on the Audience Choice Award. That’s for sure. People love that. It’s always interesting to see if there’s a difference between what the jury selects for the top prize, and who the audience selects for the top prize. Sometimes there’s agreement, sometimes there’s not. So, it’s always fun to watch and see,” McKay said.
With two intermissions, the final round of the competition has a different atmosphere to the orchestra’s other concerts.
“There’s a long intermission in between each concerto. So, people are up and about talking a lot more and they’re getting drinks more. And this just makes the event feel more relaxed and fun. It’s more conversational all night long,” McKay said.
Preparing for the final round of competition is a different process for the orchestra.
“They have to learn about 12 different concertos, because that’s what’s in play at the start of the competition. And then as the results come in for the competition, we start narrowing down the three concertos that will be performed at the concert. So, we’re sending out messages to our orchestra, letting them know, which ones they don’t have to practice any longer. They will find out the results of semifinals on Friday afternoon so they’ll have the weekend to focus on the actual three that they will end up performing. And then rehearsals on that start on Monday,” McKay said.
Mitch Lazorko
Mitch Lazorko Adam Jackson was the top prize winner at the Dallas International Piano Competition in 2024.
Jim Stopher will guest-conduct the final round, with McKay, a trained pianist, sitting in the audience knowing what those competitors are experiencing.
“As someone who’s played in competitions before, I think the best thing you can possibly do is play your music as you intend and just as intentionally as you possibly can,” McKay said. “It’s very easy when performing in a competition, to adjust or to conform to your idea of what you think will help you be most successful in one venue or arena, as opposed to just maximizing what you do well and what really fits you. Each person’s going to know best how they best make music and how they can most successfully perform very well and I would advise they all do that because it’s a comfort you feel afterwards, having done what it is you intended to do in the way that you intended to do it, even if the chips don’t quite fall the right way for you, it’s hard to regret doing that. It’s hard to have any regrets when you did the best you could and you did your job as well as you knew how and exactly as you want it to. That always feels good.”
Learn more: Dallas Chamber Symphony
Drivers both human and autonomous across the North Texas region experienced heavy flooding, with several becoming trapped along roadways that had filled with several inches of rainwater. FOX 4’s Shaun Rabb has more on the waterlogged morning.
Dallas Parks and Recreation will distribute 25,000 all-access passes that give Dallas teens free admission to cultural and recreational attractions across the city throughout July.
Passes will be available beginning June 29 on a first-come, first-served basis at City of Dallas recreation centers.
The program, now entering its fifth year, is open to Dallas residents ages 13 to 17. City leaders say the initiative, which launched in 2021, helps promote positive engagement opportunities for teens and reduce crime during the summer months.
Teens must register in person and provide proof of Dallas residency to receive a pass.
The city says the program is made possible through partnerships with local cultural, recreational, and entertainment organizations.
Participating attractions include:
- African American Museum
- Bahama Beach
- Bath House Cultural Center
- Latino Cultural Center
- South Dallas Cultural Center
- Oak Cliff Cultural Center
- Dallas Museum of Arts
- Community Art Pop Up Cultural
- Dallas Arboretum
- Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
- Dallas Park and Recreation Summer Fitness
- Dallas Zoo
- Frontiers of Flight Museum
- Golf Dallas
- Reunion Tower
- Shakespeare of Dallas
- State Fair of Texas
- Southern Skates Roller Rink
- Texas Discover Garden
- The Sixth Floor Museum At Dealey Plaza
- Trinity River Audubon
A full list of participating attractions and recreation centers distributing passes is available at DallasParks.org
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