On May 28, 2026, violin and cello students from Merit School of Music’s South Shore branch performed a joyful strings concert at Bryn Mawr Community Church, a limestone landmark on the South Side that has served as a hub of community life for generations.
The free, family-friendly concert drew community members and families of performers to the church’s sanctuary, where students showcased what they learned over the course of the year. The program featured both violin and cello performances, featuring students as young as six years old to an impressive solo performance by one of Merit’s Alice S. Pfaelzer Conservatory graduates, Malik Muhammad.
Jemima Adeyinka, Merit South Shore Program Liaison shared, “As a Merit alum myself, it has been incredibly meaningful to help host the recital at Bryn Mawr. It was so wonderful to see how excited the students and their families were about the recital. I would not have been able to learn the viola if not for the people before me who worked tirelessly to institute programs in my elementary school and other schools in underserved areas. It is incredibly fulfilling to be able to pay that forward and play even a small role in fostering a love of music in a new generation of students.”
Merit South Shore is expanding its programming this summer with a new introductory class as well as continuing classes open to kids in the community. Merit School of Music, dedicated to removing geographic as well as financial barriers to music education for Chicago-area youth, established its South Shore branch in partnership with Bryn Mawr Community Church in 2024.
For more information on Merit School of Music’s South Shore branch and upcoming programming, please visit meritmusic.org/south-shore.
