April 2, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. Redmond high school students will team up with musicians of the Oregon Symphony to present a musical celebration of the Symphony’s year-long Community Music Partnership (CMP) with the Redmond Public Schools on April 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Redmond High School gymnasium. The “side-by-side” community concert, presented by the Redmond Community Concert Association, is one of more than 200 educational activities to take place in Redmond this season as part of the Symphony’s new CMP program, which was piloted in Klamath Falls last season. The Symphony also will present two youth concerts for Redmond school children April 23 with Assistant Conductor Mei-Ann Chen. The Community Music Partnership (CMP) is funded by a grant from the Ford Family Foundation and the Jeld-Wen Foundation. Further support for education programs has been contributed by the S. S. Johnson Foundation and the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning.
“Our experience this year in our partnership with the Oregon Symphony has been like water for a thirsty desert,” says Linda Seeberg, Principal of John Tuck Elementary School in Redmond. “While our distance from urban centers limits our exposure to the arts, it does not diminish our need for the arts in our lives. Through our symphony partnership, staff, students and our community have come alive with a renewed (and for some, a newfound) enthusiasm for music.” Seeberg is one of 16 members of a Redmond Steering Committee that worked with the Symphony to design partnership activities.
The CMP goal is to have a lasting impact on music education in Oregon’s rural communities, said Michael Kosmala, the Symphony’s Director of Education and Community Programs. The Symphony’s role is to act as a catalyst, connecting Symphony resources with the community’s existing goals for arts education in its schools, he said. To facilitate this, the Symphony began working with the Redmond Steering Committee in June of 2003 to identify Redmond’s goals and provide resources, both financial and human, in the initial planning. Central to the success of this initial planning are staff development classes offered by the Symphony, specifically a course taught by Kosmala and Annie Painter, a nationally-known arts consultant, “Music Is, Music Feels, Music Speaks,” which is designed to provide music specialists and general teachers at both elementary and secondary levels with leadership skills in music-related activities, and to promote the sustainability of an arts curriculum in the Redmond schools after the Community Music Partnership concludes in June 2004.
The central focus of the Symphony’s activities in Redmond has been extensive direct interaction with students, including ensemble performances for grades K-12 at the 10 participating schools in Redmond, the two Youth Concerts and the Redmond High School band concert in May, which Music Director Carlos Kalmar will visit Redmond to assist in rehearsing. Individual Symphony musicians have been working with teachers in Redmond throughout the season to plan other programs specifically tailored to particular schools. In total, this year’s CMP in Redmond will feature over 200 educational activities, more than double the number of activities presented last year in Klamath Falls.
The first half of the April 24 community concert, to be conducted by guest conductor Michael Butterman, will feature the Symphony performing Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” Grieg’s “Norwegian Dances” and Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 in B minor. After intermission, the orchestra will be joined by students from the Redmond High School Band (Dave Sime, director) to perform Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture,” Percy Grainger’s “Children’s March-Over the Hills and Far Away” and Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture.” The concert will conclude with the Carmen Dragon arrangement of “ America the Beautiful,” featuring a vocal quartet from the Redmond High School choir. Butterman is the Associate Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
The community concert is scheduled for Saturday, April 24,at 7:30 p.m. at the Redmond High School gymnasium, located at 675 S.W. Rimrock Drive in Redmond. Tickets range in price from $5 for students to $25 for families and may be purchased at Mountain View Music (1326 N.E. 3 rd in Bend), (541) 389-5416; the Redmond Chamber of Commerce (446 S.W. 7 th in Redmond), (541) 923-5191; the Redmond School District (145 S.E. Salmon in Redmond), (541) 923-5437; the Redmond Community Concert Association (P.O. Box 91 Redmond, OR 97756); Paulina Springs Books (252 W. Hood Ave., Sisters); and the Madras Chamber of Commerce (274 SW 4th St., Madras).
The Redmond Community Concert Association is dedicated to bringing quality live entertainment at an affordable cost to the citizens of Redmond and throughout Central Oregon, and to aid the Redmond schools by providing artistic outreach whenever possible.
The Community Music Partnership is a statewide residency program designed specifically to serve rural or remote communities with populations of 30,000 or less. Unlike the Symphony’s previous touring programs, which visited several communities in a single season, the CMP focuses on an extended, in-depth relationship with only one community per season. This year’s program has been re-designed and expanded from last year’s pilot program, which took place in Klamath Falls. Together with a steering committee of community and education leaders in Redmond, the Symphony provides services in the areas of staff development for teachers, K-12 and community-centered activities and full orchestra performances. Planning and development for this year’s CMP began in Redmond in June 2003 and continues through June of this year.
A primary goal in the development of the Symphony’s presence in a community has been to respond to the particular needs and desires expressed by the community itself. The Redmond Community Steering Committee was formed to work with the Oregon Symphony team in determining which of the Symphony’s resources would best meet their needs. Committee members include the mayor of Redmond, Allen Unger; Jerry Andres, the CEO of Eagle Crest Properties; James Diegel, Senior VP Operations for St. Charles Medical Center and a member of the Redmond School Board; Marilyn Warner, Redmond School Board member; Dr. Keith Hanson, Director of Curriculum/Instruction for Redmond School District; Linda Seeberg, Principal of John Tuck Elementary; Yvonne Curtis, Principal of Terrebonne School; Pamela Warren, Music Specialist for Evergreen Elementary; David Sime, Music Specialist for Redmond High School; Larry Graves, Music Specialist for Obsidian Middle School; Cindy Lantz, Music Specialist for Vern Patrick Elementary; Dave Perdue, Secondary Principal; Ellen Glenn, fifth-grade teacher, Evergreen Elementary; Carol Kirkman, Teaching Artist; Jay Jantzen of the Redmond Concert Association; and Maggi Milton, Business Representative.
When the main activities of the CMP conclude in June, the Symphony will continue to work with teachers in the Redmond School District to promote the sustainability of their arts programs. Their focus will be to strengthen relationships between music specialists and regular elementary, middle and high school teachers. To this end, the Symphony will continue to provide resources to better integrate music across the curriculum in support of both local and state goals. Specific programs over the summer include opportunities for Redmond students to attend Brass @ Wallowa Lake, a camp taught by Assistant Principal Horn Larry Johnson, while teachers can attend Kosmala and Painter's staff development course offered through Caldera Arts, a non-profit music retreat center located on the shore of Blue Lake in central Oregon. The Symphony will also facilitate continued collaboration between existing arts organizations in the Redmond area, including the Central Oregon Symphony, Obsidian Opera, Central Arts and the Cascade Community School of Music, and the Redmond schools.
