Area students in the University of Delaware’s Little Masters Project (LMP) will perform in a concert at 5:30 p.m., Sunday, May 20, in the Gore Recital Hall of the University’s Roselle Center for the Arts in Newark.

This concert celebrating the one-year anniversary of LMP will feature select students from the program performing alongside their teachers and other performers from UD’s music program. A free dinner reception will follow the concert to allow guests to meet current students benefiting from the program as well as program donors. Dinner attendees must sign up by noon, Wednesday, May 16.

The University of Delaware Little Masters Project (LMP) provides free weekly private lessons, music theory lessons and musical instruments to underserved students in the greater Wilmington area. Founded and directed by the Delaware Governor’s Award recipient and UD Trustees Distinguished Professor of Music Xiang Gao, LMP is being offered through the support of the Master Players Concert Series at the University, the Master Players Advisory Council and independent donors of Master Players. The goal is to enrich students’ lives by improving their musical abilities, which will in turn improve their self-esteem, concentration, appreciation for beauty and the arts, while also having a positive impact on their classroom performance.

LMP recently completed its pilot program at Bayard Middle School in Wilmington, Delaware, and is now open to local communities. Since September 2017, selected Bayard Middle School students were provided with free lessons and instruments that they are now allowed to keep. LMP students from Bayard were able to showcase their talents and progress by performing on the same stage with world class musicians in the Holiday Pops concert presented by the UD Master Players Concert Series last December. Click here to see a short documentary about the students’ journey to the stage.

After the conclusion of the pilot program, LMP opened its doors to the local community, admitting five new students to the program. Students come to UD on Sunday afternoons to receive free music theory and private lessons, as well as receiving free instruments.

LMP aims to empower and support the musical growth of underserved students. Master Players administrators believe that music can change lives and that fostering students’ creative talents can help them become more well-rounded individuals.

Master Players Concert Series (MPCS) serves as the cultural ambassador for the University of Delaware. Producing Artistic Director  Gao brings a rich and wide array of world-class musicians to the UD campus and to underserved local communities. The series’ hallmarks are its high artistic standards, the Delaware debuts of remarkable artists and its diverse and distinctive programming. Master Players, in combination with the UD Resident Ensemble Players, a professional theatre company, offers a large variety of public performances in numerous University venues and throughout the region. Master Players is cosponsored by long-term collaborating unit, the UD Department of Music.

This program is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Other sponsors include Vita Nova restaurant at the University of Delaware and the Marriott’s Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware. For a complete list, visit this website.