Team O, the booster organization of the Mercer Island School District Orchestras, is very grateful to the Mercer Island Community Fund for its grant toward an enrichment event benefiting all 230 Mercer Island High School orchestra students.

Orchestra director, Vicki White Miltun, is using the grant money to invite Geoffrey Castle to do workshops with orchestra students from grades fifth to 12th on June 1-2. A pioneer on the electric six-string violin who challenges people’s pre-conceived notions of what is possible on a violin, Geoffrey weaves old school R&B, funk, jazz, blues and gospel with traditional Celtic melodies into his music. He will perform for students, and talk about alternative paths in music for students, either as a performer or as a supplement to their professional career.

The orchestra program considers such enrichment events to be pivotal in young orchestra students’ lives. Invited professional performers from all sorts of musical backgrounds can inspire students, broadening their perspectives and perhaps opening an opportunity that they heretofore had not considered.

Thank you so much, Mercer Island Community Fund and the generous Mercer Island donors who contribute to the fund. You make a difference to all the students in the MISD orchestra.

Laura Manns Arcuino, co-president

Team O, Friends of the MISD Orchestra