April/May 2018 — As the school year draws to a close, students at each Encore!Sistema Quebec (ESQ) site perfected their repertoire and performed for their schools and communities. Students at St. Gabriel School have prepared arrangements of Mozart’s 40th Symphony and the popular song “Fireflies” by Adam Young. ESQ head teacher John Dodge arranged both pieces for the Sistema students. …

March 2018 — We finished the month with two exciting concerts that brought together Encore!Sistema students, Métis multidisciplinary artist Moe Clark, and the Orchestre Nouvelle Génération. These concerts were the culmination of several months of hard work on the part of ESQ students and teachers, and followed on a week of interactive workshops with Moe Clark at three ESQ sites. …

February 2018 — Encore!Sistema is proud to feature our Kahnawake Survival School program in this month’s update. The KSS program is for youth in grades 7-11 and includes both an after-school wind program and — new this year — a lunchtime ukulele and guitar club. Each activity meets 2 days per week, for 2 hours per day. Under the guidance …

January 2018 — Encore!Sistema Quebec is proud to announce the opening of two new programs in the Parc-Extension neighbourhood of Montreal. Both programs are located at the Centre William Hingston. Our new strings program for children in grades 2-6 meets 4 days per week, for 2 hours per day. This program is in collaboration with the Parc Extension Youth Organization. …

December 2017 – The third year of the Encore!Sistema is off to a strong start, with nearly 100 students registered at the elementary and high school levels. At Saint Gabriel School in Pointe-Saint-Charles, new students are learning to hold the violin and the bow, and playing simple rhythms on open strings. The orchestra (made up of returning students on violin …