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Elementary students across Isle of Wight County Schools attended one of two special concerts from the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

The event, held in the Smithfield High School auditorium, hosted approximately 600 students from Carrsville, Carrollton, Hardy, Windsor, and Westside elementary schools.  Helen Martell, who coordinates education and community engagement programs for the Symphony, served as the conductor for both performances.

Students had an opportunity to join the Symphony as part of the Carnegie Link Up program, where the children learn to sing and play an instrument in the classroom and then perform from their seats with the Symphony during the presentation.

This was the first Symphony performance in IWCS in over five years. The event was part of the Young People’s Concert series, an integral part of the Symphony’s education program.  According to the VSO’s website, the program reaches over 25,000 students throughout the region each year. The goals of these concerts are to Introduce symphonic music and instruments of the orchestra, tie musical arts to the schools’ core curriculum supporting the Virginia State Standards of Learning, and foster relationships between symphony orchestras and their local schools.