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Contact:
Public Relations Director
The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
Phone: 407/896-6700 x 223
Fax: 407/896-5512
gmiller@orlandophil.org
www.orlandophil.org |
(Orlando, FL - June 11, 2007) - The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s popular Young People's Concerts will be performed this fall beginning Thursday, September 27 through Friday, November 9 at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre. Designed to provide a broad performing arts experience to students, the Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts involve three artistic disciplines: orchestra, opera, and ballet, showcasing all three in one program. These concerts are, for many students, their first exposure to a concert of a classical nature. Thirty performances are scheduled at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre for children, grades 3 – 5, in the Orange and Seminole County School Districts.
Due to its popularity, five concerts for home and private school students will be performed. These concerts are held on Thursday, September 27 at 10:30 AM; Friday, September 28 at 10:30 AM and 12:00 PM; Wednesday, October 17 at 12:00 PM; and Wednesday, October 31 at 12:00 PM. Tickets for the performances for home and private school children are $5 each and can be purchased by phone at 407-770-0071. Teachers and chaperones may also purchase tickets for $5.
Additionally, the concert will be performed twice at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach for students in Volusia County. Last year alone, 56,000 students had the opportunity to attend this live symphony orchestra Young People’s Concert.
The theme of this year’s concerts is “Music Takes You There.” Maestro Andrew Lane leads the orchestra as we touch down for a musical visit into eight different countries, moving through time as we hear compositions from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
Students will learn how composers use rhythm, melody and tone color to create a sense of place, time and setting. The concert will begin with American composer Leonard Bernstein’s overture to the operetta Candide, which premiered on Broadway in 1956. We will hear music from three contemporary composers who use folk tunes and characteristic sounds of Nigeria, Japan and Mexico in their music for orchestra. We will travel to France, the birthplace of ballet, as we hear the rousing sounds of the Can-Can, a French dance from the 1850’s. We will also visit Italy, the birthplace of opera, as we hear a romantic solo aria by Puccini, the popular O Mio Babbino Caro. Students in the audience will become part of an opera performance as we sing along on a famous chorus, I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General, from an operetta by Gilbert & Sullivan, first performed in Victorian England.
Composers often write for dramas on stage, and we will hear the music German composer Felix Mendelssohn created for the wedding scene in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The concert will close with the American jazz music of Dave Brubeck.
Contributing to the overall educational experience of the performances is the dissemination of a packet of educational materials to the teachers one month in advance of the concerts. Materials include the concert program and the composer information, a CD of the music in the program, program notes and active listening experiences, lessons about the orchestra, the instruments, and the role of the participants - including the audience, master pages for teacher transparencies and handouts, additional teaching experiences, information on artistic collaborators, curriculum connections, resources and references.
The Orlando Philharmonic believes that exposure to the arts at an early age is crucial to the overall development of the child. Without these concerts, most students would have little or no experience to symphonic music, opera or ballet. The excitement generated by a live performance, which includes instruments, voice and dance, provides a unique experience that only a locally based orchestra can provide.
The Philharmonic is proud of this valuable community service and looks forward to providing these services each year and for many years to come.
For further information on the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and its Young People’s Concerts, or to reserve spaces for home or private school students for a performance, phone 407-770-0071 or visit our web site at www.orlandophil.org.
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