Congratulations to the Opus 118 Performance Group and Junior Ensemble for Being Invited to Play at The Children's Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC!

December 8, 2008 (New York, NY)— Twenty-six violin students from the Opus 118 Harlem School of Music will perform during the Children's Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C. on January 18, 2009.

Led by Opus co-founder and Artistic Director of Performance Roberta Guaspari, members of the Opus 118 Performance Group and Junior Ensemble will perform for 2,000 guests at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., one of the festivities celebrating the swearing in of President-Elect Barack Obama.

“I feel really excited because we’re traveling to Washington to play during the Inauguration weekend. That’s what famous people do,” said fifth grader Sheryl Hallett.  “It’s really special to me because Barack Obama will be first black president ever,” added fifth grader Sara Sackeyfio

“We are very proud that our talented students were invited to participate in this historic inauguration,” said Guaspari. “And we are delighted to support the coordinators of the Ball, the Every Child Matters Education Fund, which seeks to alleviate child poverty, expand early-care and after-school programs and prevent violence against children.”   

The children of the Performance Group and Junior Ensemble attend elementary and high school in East Harlem and have spent at least three years studying violin at Opus 118.  

Opus 118 provides classical music training for nearly 400 underserved children in the East Harlem area. It operates in-school programs in four public schools in Harlem and runs the Excellence Charter School in Brooklyn.  Founded in 1991 when Roberta Guaspari took students into her East Harlem home on 118th Street after her fledgling music program fell victim to school budget cuts, today Opus 118 is financially supported through government and foundations grants and private donors.

Opus 118’s story is the subject Music of the Heart, a feature film starring Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Aiden Quinn and Gloria Estefan, as well as the documentary Small Wonders by Allan Miller.