Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Combines Images and Music to Recreate Timeless Children’s Classic, The Polar Express, Dec. 5

By -

Mei-Ann Chen leads baritone Andre McRae, the Peabody Children’s Chorus and the BSO for a seasonal concert, including a Holiday Sing-along

Baltimore, Md. (October 27, 2009)— Assistant Conductor and League of American Orchestras’ Conducting Fellow Mei-Ann Chen will lead baritone Andre McRae, the Peabody Children’s Chorus and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a recreation of Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express on Saturday, December 5 at 11 a.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Van Allsburg’s picture book, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1986, tells the tale of a young boy who believes steadfastly in Santa and travels to the North Pole on the Polar Express. The illustrations of this beloved children’s book will be projected on a screen above the Orchestra. The concert will feature several other seasonal favorites, including Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Children’s Prayer” from Hansel and Gretel, as well as a holiday sing-a-long.

The BSO encourages patrons to arrival early to participate in the BSO Family Fun Zone, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Meyerhoff lobby. Children and their families can take advantage of numerous free, age-appropriate activities, including Port Discovery Children’s Museum’s interactive World Rhythm Drum Circus, the Maryland Zoo’s ZOOmobile, an instrument petting zoo and face painting.

COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS
Family Concert: The Polar Express
For children ages 4 and up and their families
Saturday, December 5 at 11:00 a.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Doors open at 10 a.m. for BSO Family Fun Zone.

Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Andre McRae, baritone
Peabody Children’s Chorus
    Doreen Falby, Director
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Tickets for this performance range from $12 to $20 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more