The seventh Safaricom Youth Orchestra graduation ceremony on will be held on Sunday. The event will be conducted virtually for the second year in a row, and will be streamed on Youtube.

11 music students are set to graduate and will be awarded certificates in orchestral music having learnt to play various instruments ranging from the Flute, Alto Sax, Trumpet and Violin.

“Music education is highly beneficial to students’ well being and development. In line with our purpose of transforming lives, Safaricom is dedicated to continuously support and invest in music platforms such as the Safaricom Youth Orchestra and Ghetto Classics that play a key role in uplifting the lives of young boys and girls,” said Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO

The Safaricom Youth Orchestra was launched in 2014 by the late Bob Collymore with the aim of bringing together gifted and talented students and tutors to make beautiful music. Over 130 students have graduated so far and progressed to pursue their university education, specializing in different disciplines. The orchestra draws 45% of its students from public schools, 30% from the Ghetto Classics program, and 25% from private schools.

With the disruptions brought about by the pandemic last year, Safaricom provided over 80 members of the orchestra with 4G enabled mobile handsets and airtime to enable them attend rehearsals virtually.

“Today marks a very big day for us and I am overjoyed to see our students grow into young talents. Our aim has always been to provide the youth with an opportunity guided by some of Kenya’s finest musicians and music directors to obtain skills necessary to become Kenya’s next generation of professional musicians,” said Elizabeth Njoroge