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From Our Patron Chair 2023-24

Dear Cleveland Heights High Band and Orchestra Patrons, Alumni, and Friends,

As a proud alum of Cleveland Heights High School, I ask you to please support BOPO, the Heights High Band and Orchestra Parents Organization. I make my living in Cleveland Heights playing and teaching violin and viola, and I owe so much to the CHHS Instrumental Music Department (IMD). Back in the day, Mr. Bergantino lent me my first viola and once I found my voice on this instrument, I never wanted to stop playing. Performing with my friends at Heights were some of the highlights of my Heights experience. 

Last year, donations to BOPO helped fund a successful tour to Chicago, where the students’ activities included an exchange performance with another high school, a masterclass at Vandercook College of Music, and a trip to the Chicago Symphony (where we happened to run into an usher who was a Heights High alum!). Other highlights from last year included a concert with Heights IMD alumni celebrating 100 years of the IMD, and two inspiring nights of concerts featuring student chamber groups and jazz combos.

My wish is for the Heights music programs to remain strong for our kids and our community. BOPO’s annual fundraising supports the good work of the IMD and keeps the music playing! This year, Heights High Symphony and Symphonic Winds intend on taking another tour, and like last year, BOPO is committed to ensuring every eligible student can go, regardless of their financial situation. BOPO also maintains the IMD’s marching band and concert uniforms, provides food to marching bands playing at home football games, and offers scholarships for drum major camp. These are just a few of the ways BOPO enriches the experience of IMD students at Heights High.

If you would like more information on BOPO, please visit often our website Heights BOPO Facebook page. We hope to see you the Fall concerts on November 16 and 17, 2023 in the Heights High Auditorium!

Thank you for your support of our student musicians and the IMD’s educational programming. 

Laura Shuster, Patron Chair, CHHS class of 1989