Announcement: Daniel Trahey is named a 2020 Jubilation Foundation Fellow!
First Lady Michelle Obama Recognizes OrchKids for Excellence in Youth Program Awards
BSO Press Release (November 22, 2013)
The White House today announced that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids program is one of 12 recipients of the 2013 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, the signature program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The BSO’s flagship community engagement program is recognized for its effectiveness in developing learning and life skills in young people by fostering arts and arts education in their communities. Later today in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama will present the award to OrchKids Artistic Director Dan Trahey and eighth grader Asia Palmer, who has participated in OrchKids since 2008. OrchKids is a year-round after-school music program designed to create social change and nurture promising futures for youth in Baltimore neighborhoods.
"Dan is a passionate leader who values his role not only as a musician, but as a citizen of the world. He is a person who will advocate relentlessly for those who have less, and is fearless in their defense.””
— Marin Alsop, conductor
“Dan Trahey is the most active and most valuable consultant in the U.S. El Sistema movement. I refer clients to him regularly because he provides such wise counsel, practical problem solving, and advice that is profoundly attuned to the ideals of El Sistema. He is one of the greatest assets in the entire U.S. Sistema movement.”
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"Dan has a strange combination of charisma, confidence and gentleness that allows him to inspire young people from impoverished parts of Baltimore. Not every classically trained musician has that.”
— Jeff Sharkey, Principal of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
“Dan Trahey’s passion, dedication, and drive allowed us to turn possibilities in Waterbury, Connecticut into a deep beautiful reality. Training with Dan, and his Orchkids team in Baltimore, Maryland pushed me to set no limits for our most vulnerable children in the Bravo Waterbury! program. Some of Waterbury’s youngest children are now involved in intensive music-making, social development, and good old-fashion fun through learning. We are grateful to have Dan as part of our Bravo family!”
"OrchKids has become a model program that people around the world want to know about. Dan is not only responsible for executing the program, but he brings his own vision to the work. He's a zealot, a real crusader.”
— Jesse Rosen, League of American Orchestras
“What I admire about Dan is that Orchkids is his heart and home. He is part of the community, a fact that is simple but significant. Dan also brings his heart and home wherever he travels, to support and collaborate with people seeking to build a better world through music, including those who are part of the global Sistema community.
I first met and worked with Dan at Southbank Centre in 2012. He has since become one of my most important thought-partners and allies, and I have no doubt that many people working in this field experience with Dan the same generosity of spirit and readiness to share, learn, support, debate and create.
I wonder how many bucket drumming groups now exist around the world as a direct result of one of Dan’s workshops that prove that music starts with the human heartbeat and can be made with anything. Just one of his ways of removing barriers to music, but a powerful one for its delivery- Dan is an inspiring leader.
Inspiring and committed leadership is the single most vital ingredient for great learning. It feels particularly true for Sistema work, where the demands, challenges and opportunities are great and multi-faceted.
I really appreciate people like Dan who lead by example, who take creative risks to be held up for scrutiny by fellow learners, whose passion and energies motivate and refresh others to keep going, who close their ears to ‘the noise’ and get on with making great music together and whose belief in all young people’s latent capabilities brings me optimism that music can and will change the world.”