POP’s Concert Recordings

Rowan University String Festival

February 14th, 2026

Strings players and teachers joined Rowan University for their annual String Day at Rowan! The event was open to high school and college students, music educators, professional performers, and community members. Students spent the day at Rowan participating in solo masterclasses, string quartet coaching, a concert, and more!

PWS Presents, Concert for Coats 2025 with Play On Philly

December 12th, 2025

Play On Philly participated in Concert for Coats in partnership with Broad Street LOVE where in leu of tickets please consider donating a gently used coat/winter apparel item to help those in need. The concert featured seasonal classics and works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Jennifer Higdon, Viet Cuong, and more!

National Anthem Performance at the Phillies

August 6th, 2025

Play On Philly musicians performed the national anthem at Citizen’s Bank Park before the Phillies took to the field. Conducted by POP’s Music Director, Andrés González. 

Play On Philly Jubilee 2025

May 19th, 2025

POP hosted the annual Jubilee at the Temple Performing Arts Center, this year featuring a world premiere of a double concerto, Autumn Fantasia, written for POP by Dr. Kevin Day as part of The Composing For Young Orchestra’s Project, in partnership with WRTI. As an award-winning, multi-disciplinary composer, jazz pianist and conductor, Dr. Day’s work is known as a vibrant exploration of diverse musical traditions from contemporary classical, jazz, R&B, Soul and more. Timecodes for each performance are in the YouTube description. 

Play On Philly Children’s Orchestra – Jubilee 2024 – “Conversations with Bessie” by Erika Oba

May 19th, 2024

Highlights of this year’s Jubilee Concert include three World Premieres developed through POP’s Composing for Young Orchestras Project, and the return of POP alumni, who will join our student musicians for part of the program, including Erika Oba and their piece “Conversations With Bessie.” 

Evening Of Harmony 2024 – Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2, Finale

May 8th, 2024

This year’s Evening of Harmony took place at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater and featured the award-winning cellist, Tommy Mesa. 

Marian Anderson Young Artist Program – February 2024 Recital

February 16th, 2024

Young musicians of the Marian Anderson Young Artist Program performed solo classical works. This program provides tuition-free support to committed young classical and jazz musicians and vocalists in Philadelphia through private lessons, solo and ensemble practice, and career advisement.

POP’s Virtual Winter Concert
December 21, 2021

Due to COVID concerns, we canceled our in-person Winter Concerts. But the POP staff made a miracle happen at the last minute and arranged for all the performances to be professionally recorded all in one day at our Saint Francis de Sales School Music Center. On Tuesday, December 21st, 2021, we shared our students’ recorded performances with their families, friends, and the greater POP community.

Dream Keepers: A 10th Anniversary Celebration
June 18, 2021

Celebrate POP’s bright future! At this special Jubilee performance, we shared the commitment, musicianship, and inspirational dreams of our dedicated musicians. Community members from around the world joined us for a selection of performances by POP ensembles of all ages. POP friends and family also appeared to reflect on our achievements and share their hopes and dreams for our next decade of transformative music education.

Young At Art
April 26-30

Young At Art was a collaboration between Play On Philly, Astral Artists, and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Each concert paired works from the Mural Arts Collection with a chamber group of POP students and Astral artists centered around five instrument groups: brass, percussion, woodwinds, harp, and strings. View all five concerts here.

POP Chamber Recital
February 26, 2021

Since the fall, POP students have shown dedication to their musical pursuits and have been honing their musicianship by participating in chamber ensembles. Experience the talent of the young musicians from our string quartets, brass and wind quintets, woodwind trio, and percussion ensemble in this performance!

POP Virtual Winter Showcase
December 18, 2020

Witness our students’ creativity through their innovative and collaborative musical projects! Our Winter Showcase celebrated the community that our students and Teaching Artists have built through their shared artistic voices and included a dance number choreographed in partnership with BalletX and the world premiere of a Suite in four movements written by Iman Habibi in collaboration with our 5th-12th grade students.

POP Summer Showcase:
Lifting Our Voice
August 7, 2020

Hear the vibrant voices of our POP Virtual Summer students! Our Summer Showcase celebrated the young voices that are at the heart our community and featured their musical, visual arts, and spoken word performances, including self-portraits created with Fresh Artists and the premiere of Nature’s Karmic Vengeance, an original composition written by Kerwin Young in collaboration with our 5th-12th grade students.

POP Virtual Jubilee
May 29, 2020

At our POP Virtual Jubilee, we showcased some of our students, paid tribute to POP parents who are essential workers, welcomed Astral Artists’ cellist, Thomas Mesa and Philadelphia Orchestra’s Yannick Nézet-Séguin as guests, and witnessed a stellar performance of the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 by our very own Teaching Artists and staff!

St. Francis de Sales School Spring Dress Rehearsal Concert
March 13, 2020

On the last day of in-person programming, our talented and dedicated students at St. Francis de Sales School performed at their dress rehearsal in place of their cancelled concert, not knowing at the time how long it could be until we were together again, but wanting to share their hard work with their friends and family. We are so proud of our students for their perseverance through the unknown on this day!

Freire Spring Dress Rehearsal Concert
March 12, 2020

Students at our Music Center at Freire Charter Middle School had the rare opportunity to work with living composers in preparation for their Spring Concert that was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. We are so grateful that our Freire students were able to learn about the compositional process and push themselves to new musical heights through this experience!

Let Music Sing!
January 20, 2020

POP Symphony Orchestra joined forces with Chester Children’s Chorus (CCC) and honored the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. through two collaborative concerts called Let Music Sing! that were held on January 18th at Broad Street Ministry and at the Lang Concert Hall at Swarthmore College on January 20th.