Announcing the Inna Berson Wetmore Excellence in Teaching Award

Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras is proud to announce the Inna Berson Wetmore Excellence in Teaching Award.

This award will be given annually to a teacher who demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of music education, inspires young musicians, and makes meaningful and lasting connections to their students and our community through their teaching.

The inaugural award will go to Bernice Friedson. It recognizes a lifetime of exceptional teaching and achievement by a teacher who has touched the lives of countless students and made an indelible mark on the music community of Fairfield County and beyond.

Bernice Stochek Friedson, the daughter of violin maker Samuel A. Stochek, grew up in Manhattan, just a half block from Carnegie Hall. She gave her first recital at age 7 and subsequently performed solo recitals in the Tri-State area and on WQXR and WNYC.  As a teenager, she played chamber music with members of the New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony. She continued with conservatory study at the Juilliard and Mannes Schools of Music. At age 18, she auditioned for conductor Leopold Stokowski and was accepted into both the City Center Opera and RCA Recording Orchestras.

After moving to Connecticut, Bernice played with the Norwalk, New Haven and Stamford Symphonies, and also served as concertmaster for the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Danbury Symphony, Ridgefield Symphony, Connecticut Ballet, and Connecticut Grand Opera. She was Concertmaster, Violin Soloist, and Assistant Conductor of the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra and founded the Connecticut String Quartet. She has also performed with the Half Mile Common Piano Trio and other regional ensembles.

Bernice was a founder of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Youth Orchestra (GBSYO) in 1961. GBSYO became GBYO and is now GCTYO. She was also a founding member of the Fairfield County String Teachers Association and a String and Ensemble specialist at the Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County. She maintains a studio in her Westport home, where she continues to teach violin and viola, coach chamber music groups, and prepare students for auditions. She plays exclusively on an instrument made by her father.

Inna Berson Wetmore spent her life dedicated to two things – her music and her family. A native of Belarus in the former USSR, Inna earned a B.A. in Music from Brest Music College and an M.A. in Music and Singing from the Pedagogical Institute in Minsk. She taught music in Minsk for twenty years before emigrating to the United States with her family.

After settling in Fairfield, Connecticut, Inna continued to teach piano students of all ages and levels from her home for over 30 years. In addition to teaching piano, she taught Music Theory for more than 10 years, first at Sacred Heart University, then at Housatonic Community College.

In her free time, Inna was also a composer, writing dozens of children’s songs, patriotic songs, celebratory songs, and instrumental pieces. She was a member of the Schubert Club of Fairfield County and ASCAP.

Inna was fiercely proud of the accomplishments of all of her students and sharing her love of music with them brought her enormous joy. She attended a number of GCTYO concerts and was amazed by the exemplary performances and talent of the student musicians. The Inna Berson Wetmore Excellence in Teaching Award was created to honor Inna’s memory as a music teacher and music lover.

Bernice will be presented with the $1,000 Inna Berson Wetmore Excellence in Teaching Award at GCTYO’s Fall Concert 3 on November 24, 2024 at The Klein in Bridgeport. We hope you will join us in celebrating her achievement. Music teachers always get a free ticket to GCTYO concerts!

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GCTYO is hiring!

Brass Coach

Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras is seeking applicants for a Brass Coach position. Qualified individuals from backgrounds traditionally under-represented in classical music are strongly encouraged to apply.

Coaches work closely with the Music Director and Conductors of the orchestras in the program to support students both musically and technically during each of our concert cycles. 

Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras is located in Fairfield, Connecticut. Rehearsals are most Saturday mornings during the school year (except vacation days). At least 3 concerts per year are performed in November, early March, and May. Read our DEI Statement below and our mission statement here: https://gctyo.org/mission-statement. We are also on Facebook and Instagram.

Join a thriving organization and teach students who are eager to learn and dedicated to making music!

Responsibilities:

– Conduct weekly Saturday morning sectional rehearsals ( and a couple of Sundays) from September through the middle of May

– Attend periodic staff meetings and professional development sessions

– Communicate with Music Director and conductors and establish effective rehearsal plans

– Communicate with Executive Director

– Attend, assist, and conduct at 3 concerts per year

– Assist with auditions as needed

Qualifications:

– Bachelor’s degree in Music or Music Education is required

– Ability to establish the highest standards of music performance, while being supportive, understanding, and approachable

– A demonstrated appreciation for and understanding of the needs of all levels of student brass musicians

– A demonstrated appreciation for and understanding of the needs of high performing students

– Demonstrated success in teaching brass techniques and methods

Please send the following materials to:

Music Director Christopher Hisey (he/him) at Musicdirector@gctyo.org.

– Cover Letter addressing interest, experience with, and desire to work with youth orchestras

– Curriculum Vitae 

– A minimum of three professional references with contact information

Start date is as soon as possible. Position is a one hour coaching session per rehearsal from 11 AM-12 PM in Fairfield, CT for advanced brass students, with potential for more responsibility in the future. Compensation will be $275/month for the rest of the season, October through May. Teaching Artists are compensated for attending professional development sessions and other additional activities that benefit the organization.

GREATER CONNECTICUT YOUTH ORCHESTRAS

STATEMENT OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras (GCTYO) is grounded in the conviction that music education is a vital part of the education and development of young people and of communities as a whole. Accordingly, our music programs develop and support young musicians with an understanding that they are also part of a much larger world that is both diverse and historically complex. With this larger global context in mind, GCTYO recognizes that delivery of a robust and meaningful music education must begin with an acknowledgement of the historical inequity, exclusion and disparity of access to resources that shape the landscape in which we live. Euro-centricity, hetero-normative gender expectations, colonial conquest, and anti-Black racism have shaped the history of classical and symphonic music and continue to determine access to and success in the field. Given the systemic racism,  anti-LGBTQ bias, gender bias, and white privilege that dominates the orchestral world, our organization commits to creating opportunities for the meaningful inclusion of historically under-represented voices, particularly those from Black and Brown communities. These efforts will include (but are not limited to) equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist pedagogical and performance practices, diversifying our musical repertoire to include musicians and composers of color, and hiring staff that is diverse and reflective of our student community and the global community in which we live. In an effort toward accountability for these goals, we pledge to regularly engage our student musicians, parents, and GCTYO community by conducting annual assessments and inviting comments and suggestions about our progress. Our hope is that students emerge from the GCTYO music program as strong musicians with a deep commitment to social justice and an understanding of how music can play a part in achieving unity and equity for all.

AAPI Statement of Support

Spring 2021

GCTYO stands with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community who have been targeted, harassed and endured violent discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic. We recognize the valuable contributions of the AAPI community to our orchestras and to society as a whole. Racism against AAPIs has a long history in our nation that has been unaddressed and GCTYO takes an actively anti-racist stance against this bias.