...from the Music Director, Benjamin Simon

All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.
~ Frank Zappa

Zappa, late-20th century rock musician and anti-hero, gave classical music this back-handed compliment. Sorry, Frank; it’s not true. There’s lot of good music being written by a lot of good composers today – one proof is the success of PACO’s “Youth for Youth” commissioning program for composers under the age of 21. An orchestra is not a museum, displaying musical artifacts written by “people with wigs and stuff”; it’s a living, breathing enterprise rooted in the talent and energy of a new generation of young musicians.

Three minutes into any PACO concert – whether the performers be our youngest players in SuperStrings or our most experienced ones in Senior PACO – this becomes abundantly clear, as our budding violinists, violists, cellist, and double bassists bring the notes on their pages to glorious life. What are a bunch of kids doing indoors, unplugged and unamplified, carved pieces of wood under their chins or between their knees, breathing in unison with wide-eyed concentration on a bunch of dots on a page? Having the time of their lives!

Come experience PACO for yourself. And leave your wigs at home.

...the passion of youth, the thrill of music making...