PREVIEW: A Decade of Harmony: CHIME Celebrates Ten Years at Proctors
05/27 @ Proctors, Schenectady
Photo by Anne-Marie Gorman Doyle
“What CHIME has allowed students to do is engage in music in a more intensive way similar to sports and athletes.”
For ten years, music has been showing up after the school bell rings and changing lives across the Capital Region. Not quietly either. It has traveled around the world, played under world-renowned conductors, built friendships, launched futures, and for many students, created a place that feels just as important as home. Now Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO) and its CHIME program are celebrating that journey with the All-CHIME Spring Concert on May 27 at Proctors Theatre, marking the program's tenth anniversary with an evening celebrating everything music can build with the Capital Region’s youth.
For ESYO Executive Director, Rebecca Calos, the milestone represents something much larger than an anniversary. “When we launched the program, we did just a two week pilot with around 20 students,” she says. Fast forward a decade and that number has grown into 175 students spanning first through twelfth grade, involving every instrument and full orchestral ensembles. Some of those same children who started in the earliest years of CHIME are now heading toward conservatories and major musical opportunities.
“We have students who started ten years ago and are now heading to Hart School of Music on full scholarships,” Calos says.
CHIME, which stands for Creating Harmony Inspiring Musical Empowerment, was developed through a partnership with the Schenectady City School District and built around an idea that music should be available to every student willing to pursue it seriously. But during our conversation, Calos offered a comparison that instantly clicks.
“There’s music everywhere,” she says. “But what there isn't necessarily is the same opportunity students have in sports.”
She points to the familiar images of travel soccer, hockey leagues, and highly intensive after school athletic programs. Kids practice constantly, build community with teammates, and develop confidence through repetition and shared experiences.
“Music is the same thing,” Calos insists. “Students want to do it with peers who feel just as passionately about it.”
It is a surprisingly simple comparison, but it reframes CHIME completely. This is not simply an after school activity where students learn scales and rehearse songs. It is a daily commitment built around mentorship and belonging. “What CHIME has allowed students to do is engage in music in a more intensive way similar to sports and athletes.” That environment has had ripple effects beyond performances. “When you allow students the opportunity to make music every day with peers, you create a second home,” Calos responds.
When students come back years later, the message is remarkably consistent. “CHIME is my home. CHIME is where I found my place and my voice,” has been the feedback year in and year out.
That idea of voice feels especially fitting heading into this year's concert because one of the biggest highlights will literally be built from student voices. The annual performance includes the premiere of a collective composition created by students through the Amplify Our Voice Initiative.
“It’s usually the highlight of every year,” Calos says. Throughout the year, visiting artists work with students through improvisation and musical exploration before transforming those ideas into an original piece. “It was purely generated from student voices and student ideas.”
This year's piece, “Earth is OG,” continues that tradition.
And maybe that says everything about CHIME's first decade. The program started with a small group of students and a belief that music could open doors. Ten years later, it has become something that reaches far beyond concert stages. Calos highlights that the larger goal is helping communities gather and connect in a way that feels increasingly important. “Music allows us to enter a space in a different frame of mind and really just enjoy being together,” she emphasizes.
On May 27, music will fill that space at Proctors, but what audiences will really hear is ten years of confidence and growth all provided by the mentor and determination of our community.
For more information on the FREE All-CHIME Spring Concert, please visit www.esyo.org