In 2009 the NSA and the Nashua School District joined together to create a new educational outreach program. Nashua Youth (h)EARS aims to connect classical music to students’ everyday lives by showing ways in which it relates to their school curriculum in the areas of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Teachers help prepare students for the musical presentations, and those presentations in turn ready students for the full NSO concert they’ll hear at Keefe Auditorium each spring.

In 2011…

Students were excited by the pirate theme of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman Overture. They were encouraged to think about recurring themes within the pieces and how storytelling with music differs from storytelling with words.

In 2010…

The (h)EARS program focused on Tchaikovsky, in preparation for the NSO’s All-Russian program that April. Feedback from students and teachers was extremely positive. To read the Nashua Telegraph’s article, Symphony Shares Love of Classics with Nashua Students, click here.

Nashua Youth (h)EARS is supported by grants from the Conway Arena Ice Rink Commission and Cogswell Benevolent Trust, Nashua Rotary Club West, and the Ella F. Anderson Trust.