Talented Maine Kids Make Music History With First Ever Touring Youth Orchestra

We've got something to be very proud of here in Portland. Our friends at the Maine Academy of Modern Music have been educating and inspiring young local musicians for nearly a decade and now one of their programs is sending students on an east coast tour with Boston folk trio, The Ballroom Thieves.  

MAMM director Jeff Shaw has been helping get young area rockers out the garage and onto the stage and another program focuses on classical instruments. That program is called the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra and soon they will hit the road with The Ballroom Thieves. Director Kevin Oates enthusiastically says,

"Being able to create the first tour in history that a youth orchestra has done with a national band makes me incredibly proud to do so on behalf of Maine. Our students in MYRO have worked endlessly both in and out of rehearsal to ensure that this tour is professional and to the highest quality. They aren't performing as students, they are performing as professionals, and there is something to be said to that."

Watch and listen to the beautifully soaring strings of the MYRO accompanying The Ballroom Thieves on Bury Me Smiling...sounds like a timeless classic to this guy.

Wow! Amazing, right? Of course going on tour costs some dough, maybe you'd like to help these super talented kids out?

MYRO director Kevin Oates told us how meaningful the importance of this project is for these growing local artists,

"The Ballroom Thieves have not only provided us the opportunity to go on tour, but more importantly they demonstrate day in and day out the hard work, dedication, and positive mindset it takes to be a professional artist. Having a cellist in their band also shows our students that they don't have to merely stay in the classical realm, but can expand their skills to other genres, both as an orchestral member and also as a soloist."