Arts & Entertainment
Youth Orchestras of Essex County
Chris Borstel reveals how YOEC sparks a lifelong love of music among young musicians.
They have performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, accompanied legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti, conducted jazz great Andre Watts and created teaching methods so soothing they were lauded by the Maryland State Medical Society.
"That's who's conducting your 12-year-old in the Youth Orchestras of Essex County," says Chris Borstel, president of the volunteer-run YOEC.
The caliber of conductors explains the magical transformation that occurs each Monday after school at South Orange Middle School. That's when a gaggle of kids age 7-18, giggling and goofing around in the hallways, metamorphoses into four high-level performance groups and tackles great works of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Gershwin, Joplin and other composers.
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"Why is this kind of music important? I think it gives kids an opportunity to reach into history and to touch both the present with what they're playing and what great American composers are doing today as well as to touch the past," said Borstel.
A professional archeologist who focuses on historic preservation, Borstel has dedicated a decade of volunteer service to YOEC, as a parent decorating the concert stage, as YOEC secretary for six years, and now as president.
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"Music builds community, and when it expresses a long, broad tradition, as classical music does, it helps to root the community in history as well as in place," said Borstel.
Smiles are the way he knows YOEC is doing it right. Big smiles from young musicians when they play a concert piece beautifully under their conductor's direction—and the crowd erupts in applause. Smiles when they relax together at orchestra pizza parties during rehearsal breaks or dessert parties after concerts. Or when they share a performance trip as far away as Austria or as close to their hearts as the annual community service concerts at Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation and Daughters of Israel nursing home, both in West Orange.
Part of YOEC's mission is to cultivate a lifelong love of music among children, says Borstel.
While not displaying a banner reading "Mission Accomplished," Borstel says there are clear indications the orchestra hits its mark. Some of the earliest graduates of YOEC—New Jersey's longest operating youth orchestra, founded in 1956—are pursuing successful music careers as performers, composers and educators. Other graduates today are scientists, lawyers and doctors who play in their community ensembles across the United States.
The other part of the mission is to make YOEC affordable so as many children as possible can enjoy the experience, Borstel said. The non-profit organization keeps tuition low and offers scholarships.
As a result, YOEC is the classical music hub for more than 130 young players from across New Jersey—not just Essex County. It's an international mix with ensemble members who may speak Urdu or Mandarin at home but are unified each Monday in the language of music.
Two YOEC musicians that Borstel has watched blossom are his daughters, Ysa, a sophomore at Columbia High School, and Hallie, a sophomore at American University, both violists.
"My daughters got a great deal out of the YOEC experience. They've both become more proficient players, they've gotten an opportunity to travel, they've seen a variety of different conductors and conducting styles, they've met new people from other communities beyond South Orange and Maplewood. It's been a really great experience for them both," said Borstel.
Aside from a love and appreciation of music, the YOEC experience also may have fostered a desire for community involvement, Borstel said.
"I also hope my own participation in the orchestra as a parent volunteer and member of the Board of Trustees provides my kids with a model for later in their lives, so they, too, make an effort to support and participate community organizations they care about," he said.
Rehearsals for YOEC's 2010-2011 season begin Monday, Sept. 13. For more information about the orchestras—including scheduling an audition—visit http://www.yoec.org/
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