June 17, 2024 BY JGPRSTAFF

MANSFIELD – Superintendent Teresa Murphy and Performing Art Teacher Laurie Pepicelli are pleased to share that Qualters Middle School student Cameron Jackson was recently accepted into the YOLA National Festival Orchestra program.

The YOLA National Festival is an intensive summer orchestra program, which focuses on rigorous artistic development for young musicians from El Sistema-inspired programs and programs similarly invested in youth and community development.

The festival provides the highest caliber of orchestral training, artistry and musical excellence through a community that serves youth with the fewest resources and highest needs.

In July, Jackson will join students from all over the world in Los Angeles for 10 days of learning with the festival’s faculty, guest artists and performances with world-renowned conductors.

The 2024 program will feature two ensembles: the Symphony Orchestra for musicians aged 14-18 and the Overture Orchestra (formerly known as Chamber Orchestra) for musicians aged 12-14. Jackson will join the Overture Orchestra.

Jackson is a current seventh-grade student at Qualters Middle School and plays percussion in the band and cello in the orchestra. He was also recently a featured actor/tap dancer in the QMS drama’s production of “42nd Street.”

Jackson began playing the cello at age five and was discovered by the Intensive Community Program of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. He is currently a member of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and has been in the orchestra for four years now.

He has played at Boston Symphony Hall, Faneuil Hall and The Boston Children’s Museum and has been featured with his orchestra on WGBH.

“On behalf of the district, I am thrilled to congratulate Cameron Jackson for his acceptance into the YOLA National Festival,” said Superintendent Murphy. “Cameron is a talented young musician with a great sense of creativity and ambition. We wish him the best of luck during this program.”

Roland Green Preschool

Qualters Middle School Student Cameron Jackson was recently accepted into the YOLA National Festival Orchestra program. (Photo Courtesy Mansfield Public Schools)