Symphony Hall – a historic Boston landmark and home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra – opened its doors to hundreds of community members and city and state leaders on January 15th for Mayor Marty Walsh’s 2019 State of the City Address. Welcoming the crowd was none other than the Boston Music Project, who opened the event with their debut performance in Symphony Hall. The Villa-Lobos Orchestra, made up of student musicians in grades 2nd through 5th, took the stage and delivered an incredible performance of “Spartacus” by Brian Balmages. The students received a standing ovation and enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Watch their Symphony Hall debut below!
BMP was one of four musical performances led by student groups at the State of the City address. The Summer Street Brass Band and Boston City Singers also performed, and the Oladipo Sisters closed the event with two songs dedicated to America, including God Bless America. In his State of the City, Mayor Marty Walsh expressed his commitment to supporting the arts in Boston, by creating an Arts and Culture cabinet, an Artists-in-Residence program for City departments, and Boston’s first commitment to include art in every public building project.
We are proud of the Villa-Lobos Orchestra for demonstrating to the Boston community the power of providing hiqh-quality music programming in our public schools. Congrats to all who performed!