Filling the Void: the Need and Our Mission

“The richest child is poor without musical knowledge.”
John F. Kennedy

Virtuosi of Houston was founded to create a pre-professional climate and performance opportunities for Houston’s most focused young musicians, 11 to 18 years of age, regardless of race, religion, or financial status, and to bring an expanded repertoire of chamber orchestra works to Houston audiences. 

With the many funding cuts to artistic education in schools, especially public schools, young people are limited in their ability to obtain music education of a high quality.  Opportunities to study classical music are rare indeed.  For a middle school or high school student, the cost of instruction in classical music is beyond their parents’ ability to fund.  Virtuosi provides students with an opportunity they cannot duplicate with any other organization, including in excess of $5000.00 worth of musical education to each student from some of the finest artistic advisors and educators in Houston at a fraction of the cost to the student ($630.00 tuition for the year).  The two-conductor structure for the orchestra provides more individual training, thus achieving a higher level of expertise.

Our current student musicians are drawn from many public schools in the Greater Houston Metropolitan area, as well as a small number of home-schooled children.  We had twelve students in the orchestra on full scholarship in the past season, as they could not afford the tuition but met the artistic and technical criteria of the orchestra.   Beyond education in music, Virtuosi provide additional support for the serious devotee of classical music study in the way of financial support for college auditions.  Thus Virtuosi strives to financially enable students to interview at some of the major music conservatories of their choice. 

With no other youth orchestra in the country devoted to chamber music, Virtuosi fulfill a unique role with a smaller orchestra committed to this genre of classical music.  Another fundamental goal of the Virtuosi of Houston is to give opportunities to diverse audiences in the Houston area to hear and support our performers at a minimal cost for admission. This year we had over 900 persons who were not associated with Virtuosi attend our concerts.  While Virtuosi of Houston gives two chamber music orchestra performances per year at the prestigious Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall, tickets for this venue are kept affordable for Houstonians.  Virtuosi charges only $30 for the general public, $20 for senior citizens and parents of VOH students, and $10 for students.  The third concert is our annual spring fundraising gala with dinner, held at a prestigious hotel venue.  Virtuosi of Houston took classical music to the public some 45 times last year, as quartets and duos performed at malls, senior citizen homes, and other private venues, thus enriching the lives of Houstonians.