Courses are offered in choir, string orchestra, symphonic winds, music theory, studio music, jazz ensemble, and digital music production. Students may elect to take our performance courses — choir, string orchestra and symphonic winds — repeatedly for credit and are strongly encouraged to do so.
Students may also take individual tutorials with adjunct music faculty, who are practitioners from the Cleveland Orchestra and Akron Symphony. Any student can take private lessons for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, horn, trombone, baritone, tuba, percussion, violin, viola, cello, bass, and voice. Lessons are also available for piano and guitar. Lessons are offered all school year and are credited monthly to the students bookstore account.
All The World’s A Stage
In past years, WRA musicians have traveled to Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria to showcase their musical talents. Most recently, students traveled to Italy in the spring of 2024 for a special concert tour. With stops in Rome, Umbria, Tuscany, our student-musicians experienced Italian art, history and culture, with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at the Vatican.
Guest Musicians
Our Bicentennial Recital Series will bring in guest artists, near and far. Our debut artist was the phenomenal Keigo Hirakawa ’96 and The Keigo Hiratawa Quartet. We're thrilled to embrace the many talents of our creative community as the Bicentennial period continues over the next two years. We offer special thanks to Fine & Performing Arts Faculty and Parents Chair for Distinguished Teaching Midge Karam '79 for her enduring connections to our talented alumni and her leadership integrating the arts into our Bicentennial celebrations.
WRA Ensembles
Symphonic Winds (Band) encompasses students that play brass, woodwind and percussion. This performing ensemble focuses on building correct playing technique and comprehension of musical notation and style with an emphasis on performance.
The Academy Choir is a traditional mixed choir that performs music from a variety of styles and time periods in both large and small group settings. While emphasis is placed on developing vocal skills and music reading, the primary focus of the group is performance.
The Academy String Orchestra brings together students who play violin, viola, cello and bass. The string orchestra focuses on building correct playing technique and and comprehension of musical notation and style with an emphasis on performance.