A Round of Applause - Susan Kitterman
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“Music is so ethereal. No matter what age the person that may be performing, listening or composing, it speaks to me of the innate divinity of all of us. We're truly creatures of God. He gives us these talents to speak through us.”
– Susan Kitterman, founder and artistic director, New World Youth Symphony
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As the founder and artistic director of the New World Youth Symphony, Susan Kitterman considers herself extremely fortunate to be doing exactly what she set out to do as a musician.
"I always had this dream to start a school for the performing arts," says Kitterman, a native of the Chicago area. "I feel really grateful that as a musician I'm so fulfilled in my music-making, and involved in so many different people's lives."
Kitterman, who already had experienced tremendous success in establishing outstanding music programs in Chicago and in the Carmel-Clay School Corp., started with a small group of 18 students to form her program in 1985. Today, the New World Youth Symphony consists of 95 members, and the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, a training program, has 80 members.
"My goal is not to make professional musicians out of all these players. I want them to see that it is something joyful, fulfilling and wonderful to share with other people," says Kitterman. "When you see that happen, it doesn't get much better than that. "
From the start, she was reluctant to promote her symphony as a youth organization. She thought the public would make assumptions about the quality of music younger people could produce.
"I very purposely did not put the word 'youth' in it, because I thought it was limited. Young people are just as capable of making music on a very deep level."
Unfortunately, a legal scrimmage emerged with another New World Symphony, a training school in Miami for college graduates. Although Kitterman was able to establish prior use of the name, she agreed to include youth in the name of her organization, and it became the New World Youth Symphony.
"It doesn't bother me that much now. It is what it is," she says. "Yet when people hear that name oftentimes, they don't have an idea of the caliber of musicianship, which really is quite astounding."
One of the most gratifying parts of her work, Kitterman says, is working with musicians in the early stages of development.
"For many of them, it’s the first time they've performed a masterpiece. Young people feel everything so incredibly deeply. They go right to the meat of what the composer is trying to say. It's life-changing for me to be a part of their experience," she says, "It's one of the greatest joys of my life."
Kitterman, who is trained in the violin, viola and piano, recalls being drawn to music for as long as she can remember. Her mother often played various types of music, including Broadway show tunes, at their home.
The effect music has on her, she says, is virtually indescribable.
"Music is so ethereal. No matter what age the person who may be performing, listening or composing, it speaks to me of the innate divinity of all of us. We're truly creatures of God. He gives us these talents to speak through us."
Reprinted with permission from Indianapolis Woman – April 16, 2003.
