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Thursday, August 21, 2025
Young members of the Southernmost Youth Orchestra perform. KEVIN ASSAM/COURTESY PHOTOS
The opportunity for Florida Keys young people to organize and demonstrate their skills with string instruments has been in the works for some time.
A decade ago, Irie Monte, a local teacher, musician, and violinist, came up with the idea of weekly gatherings that would bring together children interested in rehearsing, reading music, and ultimately performing on some scale.
A receptive audience in this music town and increasing student interest resulted in a host of programs that Monte spearheads. They include “Music Together,” a worldwide program for children up to 4 years old.
“Music Together” is based on decades of research from Princeton University. It supports early childhood development and is structured as a parent-education class, where babies and toddlers are brought in to make music. Singing and dancing have been at the core of the informative and fun sessions held at St. Paul’s Episcopal.
Monte’s professional involvement in the community has also extended to the adult Keys Choral Arts and Southernmost Chamber Music Society, in addition to her own intimate concerts.
Music instructor Irie Monte is all smiles following a performance.
Music instructor Irie Monte is all smiles following a performance.
And over the summer, she led a camp program for the Southernmost Youth Orchestra members, with the aim of presenting more performances.
“These string camps have been such a huge success the first two years that I did it,” Monte says. She measures success in how much the students learn and how much fun they have each week.
The camp is held for three weeks, five days a week, six hours a day. The most recent one was held at Williams Hall. The set-up allows Monte to explore many other aspects of playing that would not ordinarily be feasible during the typical 45-minute weekly lessons offered during the school year.
She explained she gets to dive deeper during the summer program, exploring different composers, history, and music theory.
Monte is able to take students beyond crunching notes and scales. She can take them on field trips, to movies, focus on improv, and do a lot of bonding, which she says is a critical aspect, to creating a community of students who together want to pursue music.
While the latest camp was made up of existing students, Monte hopes to have the resources to cater to a variety of skill-levels.
When the youth orchestra first began two years ago, Monte had been teaching students individually. Some were at the point where they could assemble a new group. Initially, there were four girls who all played the violin. This grew to nine and eventually included viola and cello players. At the last concert, 25 students played.
That recent spring recital was a huge success and featured solos and duets plus a quartet.
Monte wants to continue to recruit more young people from all communities in the Keys to play string instruments. She offers some scholarships and recently connected with organizations like the Florida Keys Council of the Arts for additional aid to purchase instruments.
“I know often that a hurdle when starting a musical journey is getting the instrument to begin with,” Monte admits. “So I’m really calling all young people who are interested in playing to please contact me and to please come and hear the Southernmost Orchestra play.” ¦
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