City Strings United

City Strings United is a Boston nonprofit that uses music education for youth development in historically excluded communities. Students learn cello, violin, piano keyboard and upright bass, with free cello lessons at the heart of the program, and they perform in concerts in Boston throughout the year. Musical skill is only part of the goal: the program puts equal weight on discipline, teamwork, respect, listening and accountability, aiming to develop the whole child.

The founder started the program after taking cello lessons as a child in San Diego, where a cellist from the San Diego Symphony Orchestra taught for six years without charge. That experience shaped the mission. Starting with 12 children in 2012, the program has grown to more than forty students. It has given collaborative performances with Berklee professor Walter Beasley and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, and has twice performed at the Museum of Fine Arts Community Day during Art in Bloom.

What to Know

• City Strings United is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by individual and institutional donations.
• Students range from age four through eighteen, primarily from urban Boston.
• The group has opened for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Community Chamber Concert Series.
• Its work has been covered by The Boston Globe and New England Cable News.