By ADELE POLOMSKI

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, recognized as one of the New York City's finest non-professional ensembles, is unique. Not only do they offer wonderful concerts, but this nonprofit organization also plays a big part in supporting both young musicians and New York-based public service organizations. In a concert last October that featured Juilliard Pre-College student Jourdan Urbach as soloist, they raised $100,000 dollars for the Trickle Up program, which helps people rise from poverty by starting small businesses. The ensemble has also raised $25,000 for the Kaufman Center's Lucy Moses School scholarship fund, which brings Suzuki violin training to inner-city children. Most recently, PACS has generously offered its musical and fund-raising talents to benefit the Juilliard Pre-College Parents Association scholarship fund.

David Bernard leading the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony. (Photo (c) Steve J. Sherman)

PACS was founded in 1999 by David Bernard, a 1982 graduate of the Pre-College Division. Bernard went on to continue his musical training at the Curtis Institute of Music. After graduating, he served as assistant conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony and later the Stamford Symphony. He credits the Pre-College with helping him make the decision to pursue music as a career. "This is where I learned to make music my own," he says, remembering his Pre-College experience. But eventually, Bernard discovered that making music professionally brought less fulfillment than he'd anticipated. "In professional music, many musicians seemed to lose their enthusiasm and wonder. Playing was a job, and the musicians brought to their work all the enthusiasm of a Monday-morning commute."

Disheartened, Bernard left classical music to pursue a business career. But he never stopped loving music. He often attended concerts, and it was during a performance by the New York Philharmonic that Bernard found himself longing to make music again. He thought about his own experience, and decided there must be other conservatory-trained musicians in New York like himself—men and women pursuing business careers who would be interested in performing purely for their love of music. This belief became the inspiration for what is now the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony.

Today, PACS members—non-professional musicians who have attended conservatories including The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music—include investment bankers from Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley, as well as judicial law clerks and attorneys from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLC; Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP; Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP; Tofel Karan & Partners, and the law departments of the City of New York and the State of New York. Other members are executives with AllianceCapital, Bank of America, BMG Records, Cyan Pictures, DB Marketing Technologies, HealthBridge, Johnson & Johnson, Nickelodeon, Pfizer, Reader's Digest, PricewaterhouseCoopers, RG Niederhoffer Capital Management, Social Accountability International, and Tommy Hilfiger.

According to Bernard, "PACS players perform because they are passionate about music. Playing is a critical part of their lives … the musicians look forward to working in rehearsals and are actually giddy before a performance." For many of the orchestra members, PACS has offered the "utopian music-making experience" they first experienced in the Pre-College when playing an instrument deepened their appreciation and understanding of music they loved. This passion for classical music, combined with technical facility and musical maturity, is what defines the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony as one of New York's premier non-professional ensembles.

This month, PACS will lend its considerable musical and fund-raising talents by teaming up with the Pre-College Parents Association to present "An Evening at Lincoln Center." Proceeds of this concert will benefit the Juilliard Pre-College Parents Association scholarship fund. Founded in 1997, the fund affords financial aid to talented children in critical need of scholarship assistance.

The concert, at Alice Tully Hall on October 26 at 7 p.m., will feature current Pre-College student Sandy Cameron as soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto. The program will also include Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute and Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C ("The Great"). Charles Osgood, radio personality and anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, will host the event.

Tickets, starting at $35 for students, are available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, or at the Parents Association table in the Juilliard lobby every Saturday.

Adele Polomski, a fiction writer earning a master's degree from Rutgers, is the mother of a Pre-College violinist and the Parents Association hospitality co-chair.