Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WHO: The Austin Symphony Orchestra
WHAT: 2006 Young People's Concerts
WHEN: January 23-27, 2006 - 10:00a & 11:30a
WHERE: Bass Concert Hall
CONTACT: Don Hill, Director of Public Relations - 476-6064 x 213

AUSTIN SYMPHONY PRESENTS: "YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA" 2006 YOUNG PEOPLE'S CONCERTS

Season Sponsor: JPMorgan Chase
Concert Sponsor: McDonald's, State Farm Insurance, Temple Inland/Guaranty Bank, James C. Armstrong, Josie Champion, William Knox Holt Foundation, MFI Foundation, RGK Foundation, Women's Symphony League of Austin, ASO Endowment/Youth Education Fund
Media Sponsors: Time Warner Cable/News 8 Austin, Austin American-Statesman,
and KVET 98.1 FM

For one week in January, nearly 30,000 eager Central Texas school children will come by the busload and fill Bass Concert Hall to learn about the music that moves them. The 2006 Young People’s Concerts with the Austin Symphony will present a program entitled “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” featuring an array of music and thrilling images on the big screen. On the youth oriented program are Berlioz’ Rakoczy March, Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” and selections from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” This is an important and formative day for these elementary school students as many are coming to a concert venue for the very first time to discover an inspiring array of sounds, images, and people.

Imagine the excitement each student will experience as his or her weeks of lessons culminate in a ride to the UT campus, a huge symphony concert with big screen TV, and seats at the Bass Concert Hall. As they step onto the plaza (many dressed “to the nines”) and file into the towering concert hall they are inundated with the spectacular sights and sounds of ASO’s Young People’s Concerts. The enthusiasm is palpable as each student takes a seat and starts to guess at the wacky trivia on the big screen. Then the emcee comes on and regales the young crowd with jokes and explanations of the instruments and compositions played by the full orchestra. If the sounds weren’t enough, each musician’s stand is augmented with its name and video cameras capture the live action and project it onto huge screens along with the students’ previously created artwork to produce a real-time “Classical MTV®.”

This is a truly rare and special event in the lives of our children, which is often their primary exposure to classical music, seeding a lifetime of appreciation for the arts. Young People’s Concerts are the ASO’s opportunity to educate the 4th, 5th and 6th graders of our local school systems on how to “look” at a symphony. This fun-filled and action-packed 40-minute concert features symphony music that is familiar to young listeners. This year the ASO will feature a favorite to Austin: guest conductor Raffaele Ponti. Ponti returns to Austin for this very special week of concerts. Maestro Ponti is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He began his career performing as assistant principal trumpet to Bernard Adelstein of the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 19. Working with renowned conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Yoel Levi, Klaus Tennstedt, and Sir Colin Davis, inspired Ponti's decision to pursue a conducting career.