March 21, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … The Kinderkonzerts series, designed for kids in kindergarten through second grade, winds up this season’s tour of the orchestra’s families of instruments with a visit to the brass section in “Brought to You By the Letter “B,” presented by the Oregon Symphony Education and Community Programs Department. This concert, the last of four, follows February’s exploration of the woodwind section, “Song Soup.” The full series featured 36 separate performances hosted by selected members of the Oregon Symphony, who introduced kids to the various instrument families in a cycle of four concerts, each focusing on a different section of the orchestra. “Brought to You By the Letter “B,” narrated by Amy Haroldson, aka “Bubbles the Clown,” is a group of nine 30-minute concerts that will take place at three Portland-area elementary schools on Friday, April 18, Wednesday, April 23 and Monday, April 28.
This year’s expansion of the initial pilot program has allowed the Symphony to reach over 12,000 students in the Portland Metro area. The idea for Kinderkonzerts grew out of the Symphony's Artsvision plan, which recommended age-specific programming. 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.
Lent Elementary was 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 McKay Elementary allows the Symphony to bring its educational programs into Washington County.
“Brought to You By the Letter “B” will feature Symphony trumpeters Dave Bamonte and Sally Kuhns, French horn player Larry Johnson, trombonist Aaron LaVere and tuba player Játik Clark, who will demonstrate the techniques of making music with their brass instruments. The musicians will highlight specific instruments with solo and small ensemble demonstrations featuring music of Dukas, Schubert, Kabalevsky, Bach, Strauss, selections from Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” favorite songs including “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Happy Birthday,” and Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”
“Brought to You By the Letter “B” will be performed on Friday, April 18 at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. at Peninsula Elementary in north Portland. The concert will repeat at 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 23 at Lent Elementary in southeast Portland, and the following Monday, April 28, at 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. at McKay Elementary in Beaverton. 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.