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 &quo
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

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more