January 9, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … This season’s expanded cycle of Kinderkonzerts for kids in kindergarten through second grade continues with the Oregon Symphony Education and Programs Department’s second program of the series, “Charting a Changing Course,” a tour of the woodwind section. The concerts will feature a woodwind quintet of select members of the Oregon Symphony, who will introduce kids to the various instruments of the woodwind family and will take place at three Portland-area elementary schools on Jan. 26, 27 and 28.
Music can suggest many of the sounds and cycles of the natural world. “Charting a Changing Course” will take children on a journey that compares the changes in music with changes in the four seasons, weather and animals. With the participation of Symphony musicians Karen Wagner, oboe; Todd Kuhns, clarinet; Martha Herby, flute; Leon Chodos, bassoon and Mary Grant, French horn, the children will hear excerpts from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suites,” Strauss’ “Tales from the Vienna Woods,” “Turkey in the Straw,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee,” “Three Blind Mice,” (with additional lyrics titles “We Find Ice”), “Rainbow Connection” (Kermit the Frog) and “Tiger Rag.” The kids will participate in the interactive program by using their imaginations to provide a storyline for the non-narrative pieces and by guessing which animals are represented by the different woodwind sounds.
KinderKonzerts sprang from the Symphony's Artsvision plan, which recommended age-specific programming. This year’s expansion of the program will allow the Symphony to reach over 12,000 students in the Portland Metro area. The 2000 Artsvision evaluation, which included focus groups all over Portland to determine how the city’s students interacted with orchestral music, helped decide the location for KinderKonzerts. Lents Elementary is an RACC Artsplan partner with the Oregon Symphony, while Peninsula Elementary was selected to further cement ties between the summer “Oregon Symphony in the Neighborhoods” concerts and the north Portland area. The inclusion of Palisades Elementary allows the Symphony to bring its educational programs into Clackamas County.
“Charting a Changing Course” will be performed on Monday, Jan. 26, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Palisades Elementary in Lake Oswego. The concert will repeat at 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 am on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at Lent Elementary in southeast Portland, and will also be performed at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at Peninsula Elementary in north Portland. Tickets are $2/per student. All children are welcome to attend these concerts, and they are open to anybody in grades K-2. Daycare programs and homeschoolers are encouraged to contact the Education Department. For more information about KinderKonzerts, contact the Oregon Symphony education department at 503-228-4294 or visit the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org.
