Orchestra of St. Luke's Receives Major Naming Gift

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) has received a one million dollar gift from Virginia James to name the Learning & Media Studio at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. It will be known as the Virginia James Learning & Media Studio.

"Virginia's incredible and longtime support of St. Luke's, and especially its education programs, is a particular joy to me", says OSL co-founder and President Emeritus Marianne Lockwood. "I have known Virginia for almost 50 years and her support over the years has been fundamental to the success of our Education & Community programs. It is a great pleasure for me to now be able to recognize her generosity in this way. Her gift will ensure access to a high-quality rehearsal and learning space for young musicians for generations to come."

"The activities that take place in The DiMenna Center's Learning & Media Studio align with my strongly held belief that classical music experiences are paramount to a child's development," says James. "I am honored to support a space where young people have the opportunity to discover and nurture their love of music and music-making."

The Learning & Media Studio is The DiMenna Center's third-largest space and a hub for classical music education and recording. Its advanced technological capabilities provide interconnectivity to the building's other spaces. The studio is used regularly for rehearsals and workshops by groups such as Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's, the New York Youth Symphony, and Manhattan Girls Chorus, among many others.

Opened in 2011, The DiMenna Center for Classical Music provides state-of-the-art rehearsal and recording facilities for classical musicians at subsidized rates. It has served more than 400 ensembles and 100,000 visitors from across New York City and beyond, and engages members of its Hell's Kitchen community with free, interactive classical music events produced by Orchestra of St. Luke's.

About Orchestra of St. Luke's and The DiMenna Center for Classical Music
Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's most versatile and distinguished orchestras, collaborating with the world's greatest artists and performing approximately 80 concerts each year-including its Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series, Chamber Music Series at The Morgan Library & Museum and Brooklyn Museum, and summer residency at Caramoor Music Festival. In its 41-year history, OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works, has given more than 175 world, U.S., and New York City premieres; and has appeared on more than 100 recordings, including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado is OSL's principal conductor.

OSL grew out of a chamber ensemble that began giving concerts at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in Greenwich Village in 1974. Today, the 21 virtuoso artists of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble make up OSL's artistic core.

OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, where it shares a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York City's premier venue for rehearsal, recording, and learning, having quickly gained a reputation for its superb acoustics, state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, including more than 400 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds of neighbors, families, and school children at its home each year for free community events.

Through its Education & Community programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs; offers free live and online interactive music programs at The DiMenna Center; provides chamber music coaching for adult amateurs; and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's (YOSL), an intensive in- and after-school instrumental instruction program emphasizing musical excellence and social development, in partnership with community organizations and public schools in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

Orchestra of St. Luke's is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Office of the Manhattan Borough President, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

For more information, visit OSLmusic.org.