It all started when…

we asked ourselves, what if we did a student version of Chicago Stories? We approached The Peoples Music School with our idea to help young composers create their own musical works and from there we started our first residency in the spring of 2020. When the pandemic happened we decided to move forward anyway, and make the residency happen over zoom. The result was one of our absolute highlights of the year, and was such a success that we are now on our third residency!

about the residency

We meet with a select group of students from all five campuses of The Peoples Music School for a series of 90-minute sessions led by BBE composer, Heidi Joosten. The students then sketch out their works, and BBE instrumentalists and vocalists drop in to the sessions to play students works and offer more guidance from the performers perspective. By the end of the residency, students have completed their composition with a recording in hand provided by BBE musicians.

If you would like to support this important outreach program, you can click Here to Donate!