Only 25 of the best African-American and Latino students in grades 4-10 are accepted to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Talent Development Program, and Fayette County high school students make up 20 percent of this year’s class.

Alisha Zamore, McIntosh High, clarinet; Triniti Rives, Fayette County High, clarinet; Wilfred Farquharson, Fayette County High, viola; Jordan Howard, Fayette County High, oboe; and Errol Rhoden, III, Fayette County High, tuba are among the participants in the 2015 Talent Development Program, which identifies and develops young African-American and Latino students for acceptance in the country’s top music programs.

The Atlanta Symphony was the first American orchestra to establish an intense development program designed to diversify the professional orchestra of the future. Rigorous and challenging, the program seeks young musicians who are dedicated to a musical future, as well as sufficiently talented to attain it.
 
Students in the program are invited regularly to attend prestigious summer music programs, including the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Heifitz Institute for Strings, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Tuition to these summer training programs is funded by scholarships through the Azira G. Hill Scholarship Fund.

The public can enjoy the talents of these young artists, and support the Azira G. Hill Scholarship Fund, by attending the Musicale and Aspire Awards at Atlanta Symphony Hall on November 15 at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are $10. Visit www.atlantasymphony.org for more information.