Inspiring Young Hearts With Opportunity
Iris works with youth and educators alike to make music a part of all young people’s personal and academic growth. Through consistent mentorship during the school year Iris empowers the next generation with valuable musical training, transferable life skills and newfound inspiration.
5
DAYS A WEEK OF INSTRUCTION
2,500
STUDENTS EACH SEASON
Mentorship in Action This Season
RANDALL GOOSBY & MICHAEL STERN
Saturday, November 2, 2024, 7:30pm | GPAC
Memphis native Randall Goosby returns to perform the ebullient Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Iris Collective musicians. Hailed for his expressive powers and dedication to making music more inclusive and accessible, Goosby will be joined by area high school students and students from the GPAC Youth Symphony. Conducted by Iris founder Michael Stern, these students will perform side-by-side with Iris musicians for Florence Price’s moving work Adoration. Rounding out the program is Emotive Transformations by James Lee III and the virtuosic masterpiece Variaciones Concertante by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera.
STRING ORCHESTRA MENTORSHIP
Weekly
Iris Collective works with orchestra students from elementary through high school. Iris Fellows teach students at Middle College High School, Rozelle Elementary, & Treadwell Elementary and coach middle school chamber music students through GPAC Youth Symphony every week.
Fall and Spring
Special morning engagements with our partners at the Morton Museum are targeted to children and reimagining their experiences with music. Whether by bringing nursery rhymes to life or an instrument petting zoo, the children are able to see, touch, hear and play with music like never before.
Past Mentorship Projects
BARTLETT HIGH SCHOOL RESIDENCY
Iris musicians worked with Bartlett High School photography students to explore the intersection of music and visual art through interpretation of Schubert's Death and the Maiden.
RANDALL GOOSBY & ZHU WANG: RISING STARS
This dynamic and award-winning violinist and pianist duo spent a week in residency working with young musicians and their families to share and create music together through workshops and performances. Students also joined the artists on stage in concert.