Kathleen Brauer (violin), Kedrick Armstrong (conductor),
Melissa Trier Kirk (viola)
Several orchestra members were involved in a May 31st performance of Empower Youth!, the result of a partnership between Lyric and the Chicago Urban League. Students drawn primarily from Chicago’s South and West side communities met after school throughout the year to work with composer Damien Sneed, librettist Ike Holter, director Jess McLeod and music supervisor Kedrick Armstrong. Together they created an original opera about a group of students from the South Side of Chicago who banded together to fight the media’s negative view of their neighborhood.