The Air Force Strings Embark on Summer Tour Published July 30, 2015 By Master Sgt. William Hurd Washington, D.C. -- The Air Force Strings are looking forward to our tour of New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia this summer. The Strings will perform in Sidney, Maine, Manchester, N.H., Portsmouth, N.H., West Hartford, Conn., Lansdale, Pa., and Orkney Springs, Va. A complete schedule is listed at the end of this article. Highlights of the tour include several events in which the Air Force Strings will collaborate with educational organizations through its AIM (Advancing Innovation through Music) educational outreach program. On July 31, the Strings will spend the morning coaching and mentoring students at the New England Music Camp. Founded in 1937, The New England Music Camp (NEMC) is a summer camp for music students ages 11 to 18, located on 200 acres in Sidney, Maine, on the eastern shore of Messalonskee Lake in the Belgrade Lakes region. New England Music Camp has had many alumni move on to successful careers in music. NEMC alumni have won positions in the New York Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony and the Air Force Strings. During the morning sessions, the Air Force Strings will rehearse with students for a side-by-side performance of Percy Grainger's "Molly on the Shore." The students will perform together with the Air Force Strings during our public concert at the camp that evening. Moving on from Maine, the Strings will spend two days in Portsmouth, N. H. On Sunday, Aug. 2 at 1 p.m., the Strings will offer a free concert at Prescott Park - a beautiful waterfront venue in downtown Portsmouth. The following morning, Aug. 3, the Strings will present an educational outreach program at the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center. Founded in 2002, The Portsmouth Music and Arts Center is a nonprofit educational institution in downtown Portsmouth that offers programs for children and adults, and is the proud home of fifteen adult student ensembles and twelve youth groups who perform throughout the community. This interactive musical presentation begins at 11 a.m. and will be a blast for children of all ages. On the afternoon of Aug. 4, the Strings will present a concert at the Hartt Suzuki Institute at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn. The Hartt Suzuki Institute is a special camp that provides an intensive musical experience for over 100 families with children who currently study an instrument through the Suzuki Method. Often called the "mother tongue approach," the Suzuki method applies the basic principles of language acquisition to music learning. The ideas of parent responsibility, loving encouragement, constant repetition, etc., are some of the special features of the Suzuki approach. The Air Force Strings are proud to be a part of this family-oriented community event. The following evening, the Strings perform at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lansdale, Pa. at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5. The Lansdale public school system supports a thriving "Suzuki in the Schools" program. Our very own Chief Master Sgt. Deborah Volker hails from Lansdale and got her start in violin in this program. The Air Force Strings will wrap up the tour with a concert close to home at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival in Orkney Springs, Va. on Thursday, Aug. 6. The Shenandoah Valley Music Festival has been bringing concerts to the bucolic foothills of Shenandoah Mountain since 1963. The Air Force Strings is proud to be a part of this tradition for the second year in a row. This concert will begin at 8 p.m. The Air Force Band's educational events reach an audience of over 15,000 annually. The Air Force Strings are proud to be able to bring these events to student audiences on the road as we tours five states this summer. If you are nearby, we invite you to join us for the following tour concerts and events: July 31 ~ 6 p.m. Snow Pond Center for the Arts 8 Goldenrod Lane Sidney, ME 04330 Aug. 1 ~ 7 p.m. Veteran's Memorial Park 889 Elm St. Manchester, NH 03101 Aug. 2 ~ 1 p.m. Prescott Park Arts Festival 105 Marcy St. Portsmouth, NH 03802 Aug. 3 ~ 11 a.m. Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (a fun, interactive musical event for children of all ages) 973 Islington St. Portsmouth, NH 03801 Aug 4 ~ 3:30 p.m. University of Hartford Hartt School of Music Millard Auditorium 200 Bloomfield Ave. West Hartford, CT 06117 ( Attendees should use parking lot D) Aug. 5 ~ 6:30 p.m. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church 1000 W. Main St. Lansdale, PA 19446 Aug. 6 ~ 8 p.m. Shenandoah Valley Music Festival 221 Shrine Mont Circle Orkney Springs, VA 22810