Susan R. Harris Scholarship Fund
A Friends of Music Concerts initiative to support classical music education
Begun in 2021, this program helps give young people in the community the opportunity to appreciate classical music with a view toward building audiences for the future. Currently working with two of Westchester County’s outstanding music schools to provide scholarships to students from underserved communities, the program addresses the challenges faced presently by our local music schools in providing a superior level of musical education. The participating schools are:
Hoff-Barthelson Music School. Founded in 1944, the school serves more than 800 students on its Scarsdale campus as well as at various partner organizations throughout Westchester County. The School’s comprehensive approach to music education provides students with the opportunity to participate in weekly private lessons and musicianship classes with world-class teachers and accompanists; a wide array of bands and chamber music, jazz, choral, orchestral ensembles; and weekly performance workshops and recitals.
The Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains is a nonprofit community music school dedicated to providing the extraordinary benefits of music to all in our community. Known for its high-quality programs, the Conservatory ensures broad access to its programs through its needs-based Scholarship Program, its Music Therapy program for people with disabilities, and Healing Our Heroes program for military veterans. The Conservatory is the very first in Westchester to offer a precollege certificate program in Recording Engineering and Music Production.
Both schools have told us that we have made a difference in the lives of talented music students with limited funds. In recent years, the recipients included a high school-age voice student who hopes to study voice and musical theatre in college, a six-year-old violin student, an eleven-year-old violin student and an eight-year-old piano student who is also a choral singer.
Susan R. Harris Scholarship Fund
In 2023, the scholarship program was named the Susan R. Harris Scholarship Fund, honoring the extraordinary generosity and commitment to our mission by Friends of Music Concerts president, Dr. Susan R. Harris.
Retired from her practice as an internist and hematologist, Harris had been attending FOMC concerts for many years, then joined the board in 2016 and has served as president since 2020. Her special area of interest is in advancing the future of chamber music through educational initiatives such as scholarships and our Partnerships in Education program.
An accomplished guitarist, Harris has recorded six CDs for family and friends. Starting in the 1970s, she wrote songs and has been studying ever since with Jerry Silverman, a well-known guitar teacher and anthologist of many guitar books.