Off the Hook Arts
enriches children’s lives through free group music lessons and instruments while enhancing the diversity of music performances in our community through intimate concerts of classical, jazz, and world music.
Who We Are
Off the Hook Arts is a thriving nonprofit that enriches children’s lives through free group music lessons and instruments. We fund these life-changing music education programs through engaging, interactive concerts of classical, jazz, and world music presented in unique and intimate settings.
Our focus is on bringing music education to low-income kids for whom it is otherwise not affordable. Children benefit immensely from early exposure to music education; we serve K-5th grade through our free Meadowlark Music Program held the Boys & Girls Clubs in Fort Collins and Loveland, Matthews House Genesis Project, and the Academy of Arts and Knowledge. Our Chamber Music Academy offers scholarships as needed to middle and high school aged students interested in enriching their relationship with their instrument and finding their own voice. We level the students’ playing field by introducing them to serious music instruction at younger ages and encouraging all students as they build intellectual, social, and emotional skills.
Our concerts and SummerFest music festival enrich the musical offerings in our community by bringing world-class artists to private gardens, homes, and other one-of-a-kind venues where direct contact between audience and performers encourages interaction with the artists and a deeper understanding of the musical process is fostered.
Benefits of Music Education
Research shows that musical experience activates nearly every region of the brain.
This results in:
- Higher IQ
- Better memory and motor coordination
- Accelerated speech, reading, and comprehension skills
- Improved mental focus for extended periods
- Enhanced emotional resilience, self-confidence, and empathy for others.
Creating formative experiences through education and world-class performances.
Events
Unique intimate concert experiences that are engaging, interactive, and thoroughly delightful.
- Garden Concert Series
- SummerFest
- Special Events
Music Programs
Serious music lessons for kids who long to play, but might not otherwise be able to afford it.
- Free Meadowlark Music Program
- Chamber Music Academy
- Adult Academy Orchestra
- Cello Choir
11th Annual SummerFest Music Festival
June 21 - 28, 2023
This year marks our 11th SummerFest music festival! Our 2023 SummerFest — Visions and Decisions — focuses on the interaction of musical imagination and technique.
"You’re almost asleep, but not quite; your mind begins to wander; it drifts not away from your thoughts, but deeper into them; a vision appears in your mind – a dream of musical images, energy, and emotion – it feels like there’s an urgent message in this music that you must decode; the vision is new, yet strangely familiar; it’s yours for the taking. You grab the dream and shake yourself awake. You’ve got it. You hold the music in your mind’s ear while its rhythmic energy resonates in your body. Now you must decide what to do with it. This will take some work, but it’s exhilarating work – scripting invisible events, shaping sounds into expressive patterns, depicting echoes: it’s called composing."
——from Visions and Decisions, a new book (Buy Here) by Bruce Adolphe
All music starts as a musical vision and then the hard work begins. Off the Hook Arts artistic director Bruce Adolphe will discuss the compositional process and the music on our concerts this summer, as well as his new book on June 22nd.
Concerts
June 21 – Where Thought Touches the Blood — Dramatic Musical Visions
- Doors: 6:30 PM
- Concert: 7 PM
- Leoš Janàček: Sonata for Violin and Piano
- Cello work TBD
- Beethoven: Piano Trio Opus 70, No. 2
Featuring:
- Violin: Kyu-Young Kim
- Cello: Joshua Halpern
- Piano: Marija Stroke
June 25 – Musical Tales — with Composer-Narrator Bruce Adolphe
- Doors: 6:30 PM
- Concert: 7 PM
- The Nightingale for violin and narrator, music by Bruce Adolphe with an updated comical-digital version of the tale by Hans Christian Anderson
- Fantasy Pieces for cello and piano by Robert Schumann
- The King, the Cat, and the Fiddle — a funny fable for violin soloist; string ensemble, and piano; music by Bruce Adolphe, story by Yehudi Menuhin and Christopher Hope
Featuring:
- Violin I: Kelly Hall-Tompkins
- Violin II: Dorian Kincaid
- Viola: Stephanie Mientka
- Cello: Alice Yoo
- Bass: Mark Lillie
- Piano: Marija Stroke
June 28 – Schubert’s Grand Vision
- Doors: 6:30 PM
- Concert: 7 PM
- Prokofiev Sonata for Violin and Piano in F Minor
- Ligeti Sonata for Solo Cello
- Schubert B-Flat Piano Trio
Featuring:
- Violin: Ari Isaacman-Beck
- Cello: Matthew Zalkind
- Piano: Marija Stroke
Talks
June 23 - Join author and speaker Teresa Funke for an inside look as she interviews/moderates an intimate conversation with SummerFest artistic director, Bruce Adolphe about his new book, Visions & Decisions. Venue TBD.
Stay tuned for additional information regarding programs and tickets.
Proudly supported by our sponsors
- All
- Copper Sponsor
- Platinum Sponsor
- Gold Sponsor
- Silver Sponsor
- Bronze Sponsor
- Community Partners
