Our History

History

Music Orchard began as a pilot program in 2013 at William Fox Elementary in Richmond, Virginia. The founder of Music Orchard, Jake Zaslav, and the school’s principal, Daniela Jacobs, arranged for sixteen elementary school students to be mentored by nine high school student musicians, and the program’s first year was extremely successful.

After suggestions from several parents and teachers, Music Orchard expanded to a second school, Linwood Holton Elementary, in 2014. The program doubled in size, providing thirty-seven elementary school students with private music lessons, taught by twenty-four different mentors. In Spring 2014, the Music Orchard program was awarded one of the first Spark RVA Awards from The Community Foundation. With this grant funding, the program was able to expand its mentor training program, as well as supplies requested by mentors for their students.

In the summer of 2015, Music Orchard formed a community partnership with Richmond Symphony in order to create exciting new opportunities for the organization and the young musicians that participate in the program. In 2017, Music Orchard expanded to its third school, Westover Hills Elementary. Since then, the program has been officially recognized as a non-profit organization by the IRS. Today Music Orchard has provided over 200 elementary school students with free private lessons.

In 2023, Music Orchard underwent a leadership change and adjusted its name to Music Orchard Richmond (MOR), MOR expanded its program to offer in-school supplemental instruction and after-school tuition-free lesson programs in an effort to meet the needs expressed by the community. Mentorship will continue to remain a core part of the program through the practice partner system that is an integral part of the after-school program.