The New Horizons Orchestra at Provo and Brigham Young University is beginning another season and is seeking new members.
The New Horizons Orchestra, founded in 2003, provides music instruction for adults over 40 who are interested in playing the violin, viola, cello or bass. No previous experience is necessary.
Lessons and rehearsals are held Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Oak Hills 7th Ward building, 1038 North 1200 East, Provo. Tuition for the program is $110 per semester, not including the costs of instruments, music and related equipment.
“This is a program that is meant for people who always wanted to play a string instrument, but for some reason never did,” said director Andrew Dabczynski. “Or it’s for folks who might have played an instrument throughout their school and even college years, but put it away to have a career or raise a family, and now discover that they have the time and desire to pick it up again.”
Dabczynski, a professor of music education at BYU, is assisted by string specialists Kristen L. Hyde and Lindsey Robb. The orchestra also uses undergraduate BYU music education students who act as assistant instructors.
The New Horizons Orchestra program welcomes adults over 40, but is specifically aimed at seniors.
“This music instruction really has a great benefit,” said Dabczynski. “We have found that it helps with people’s mental and physical health and has a marvelous effect on members’ families. I even know two octogenarians who met and married while performing with New Horizons.”
More than 100 New Horizons Bands have been established in the United States, Australia and Canada since that program’s inception in 1991. Dabczynski founded the first New Horizons Orchestra in 1997 in Rochester, NY.
For more information, contact Andrew Dabczynski at (801) 422-2317 or visit ce.byu.edu/cw/newhorizons.
Writer: Brandon Garrett
