A film crew from the documentary project El Sistema USA records Play On, Philly! students performing at Saint Francis De Sales last year. (Photo by West Philly Local)

Play On, Philly!, the vaunted, tuition-free after school music education program that takes students with no musical training and teaches them over a school year to perform classical music, will host a year-end concert on Wednesday, June 5, at the Please Touch! Museum (4321 Avenue of the Republic). The concert will feature 250 students from around the city, including many from West Philly’s Saint Francis de Sales School (917 S. 47th), Freire Charter School (2027 Chestnut St.) and West Philadelphia Catholic High School (45th and Chestnut).

This year’s show, entitled Beethoven Alive!, begins at 6 p.m.

The year-end gala is one of several Play On, Philly! concerts scheduled for the coming weeks. The others include:

St. Francis de Sales Choir Concert  – A salute to music from popular films.
Sunday, June 9, 2013 • 3:00 p.m.
Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church (5620 Wyalusing Avenue)

St. Francis de Sales Large Ensemble Concert  (final concert of the year)
Saturday, June 15, 2013 • 2:00 p.m.
West Philadelphia Catholic High School (4501 Chestnut Street)

Play On, Philly! began in 2010 at the Saint Francis de Sales School with 110 kids ages 6-13. The idea was to bring enrichment to their lives through music. Last spring renown jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis stopped by Saint Francis de Sales to talk to students in the program. Students go through a rigorous training program that includes three hours daily of after school instruction by some of the city’s best teaching musicians. Play On, Philly! hopes to establish a program in every city neighborhood.

– Mike Lyons