Link Up Music Education and Youth Concerts

Every year Santa Cruz Symphony provides free school day morning concerts for 4th and 5th graders at both the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz and the Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville.

The Symphony partners with Carnegie Hall, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and various school districts to implement Carnegie Hall's Link Up program. We held our first Link Up concerts in 2018.

Through Link Up, 4th and 5th grade students spend weeks before the Youth Concerts learning to read music, sing, clap to rhythms, and play recorders in their classrooms. The music they learn is the same music that will be performed at our Youth Concerts, so when they come, they engage and participate in the concert program.

For information on how your school or classroom can participate in Link Up or attend one of our Youth Concerts, email education@santacruzsymphony.org or call 831-462-0553 x10.

Musicians Visit the Schools

In the weeks before our Youth Concerts, Symphony musicians visit classrooms during the school day to talk about their instruments, the orchestra, and what it's like to be a professional musician. Students have the chance to ask questions and even try out the instruments!

The Annual Family Concert

At our annual Family Concert we present the Link Up program to the public, plus a special symphonic work for kids!

This is a chance for our community to experience the same youth concert repertoire we performed for local 4th and 5th graders earlier in the week.

The second half of the concert includes a family-friendly piece such as Carnival of the Animals or Peter and the Wolf.

The Family Concert is open to families and children of all ages. Immediately following the Family Concert, children are invited to meet real Symphony musicians and try out their instruments in our "Instrument Petting Zoo."

We believe students who are learning to play orchestra instruments should have the chance to play with larger ensembles, so we invite members of the Santa Cruz County Youth Symphony to perform side-by-side with our professional musicians at our Youth and Family concerts. We also invite members of the Kuumbwa Jazz Honor Band, El Sistema Strings, and Cabrillo Youth Chorus to participate.