Portland Symphony Orchestra

KinderKonzerts and other info

Strings, Brass, and Winds KinderKonzerts: The Music and Life of Ludwig von Beethoven
October 2014, February 2015, and March 2015
 
In celebration of the PSO’s 90th Anniversary Celebration and the launch of a three-year Beethoven Symphony Cycle, the Brass, Strings, and Winds KinderKonzert Quintets will focus on the music and life of Ludwig von Beethoven. Join us as we explore the music that Beethoven listened to as a young child (when he was KinderKonzert age!), his early compositions, and his ability to persevere through hearing loss to write beautiful symphonies.

Although the story of Beethoven’s life will be similar across the three KinderKonzert ensembles, audiences will learn unique characteristics of each ensemble and instrument family. Students will benefit from attending multiple performances by engrossing themselves in the familiar theme of Beethoven, approached through the eyes of several different musicians.

 

Percussion KinderKonzerts: What You See & What You Hear!
May 2015

Audiences should be prepared to make some noise with the Percussion KinderKonzerts: What You See and What You Hear! Using a variety of instruments, the PSO’s percussion ensemble leads attendees in an exploration of percussive sound using mallets, brushes, sticks, and their bare hands.

WARNING: Attendees of the Percussion KinderKonzerts may leave with the strong desire to turn everything in front of them into homemade percussion instruments!
Open Dress Rehearsals
Behind the Scenes at Merrill Auditorium: Grades 6 – College

Students and community organizations are welcome to observe our open dress rehearsals at Merrill Auditorium. These are a casual, informal way to experience working rehearsals, where the conductors might decide to perform pieces in a different order, suggest changes, and make performance decisions prior to the full concerts.

 

Host a KinderKonzert
In addition to our performances in Portland, Lewiston, and Brunswick, the PSO KinderKonzert quintets are available to perform at your school or organization. Rates begin at $1300 for two performances. Schools are welcome to sell tickets to the public and to co-host with other schools and organizations, to help offset costs. Contact education@portlandsymphony.org for more information.

For more information, including purchasing tickets. please click here.

Day 2: Summit on Arts Ed

Another worthwhile day at the Summit provided by the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative – a program of the Maine Arts Commission

The Day 2 schedule at the Summit on Arts Education at USM, Portland allowed participants the opportunity to attend sessions on technology, integration, advocacy, and sessions with like-grade level and discipline on Proficiency and the Student-centered classroom.

In addition, throughout the morning participants had the chance to learn more about teaching artists, arts organizations and higher education.

Representatives from the following arts organizations and institutions participated: From the Bow Seat, Lesley University, Lincoln Street Center and Northland Village Foundation, Maine Department of Education, Maine Art Education Association, Maine Music Educators Association, Maine College of Art, New England Institute for Teacher Education, Portland Ovations, Portland Museum of Art, Portland Symphony Orchestra, UMaine Music Ed Department, and UMaine Art Ed Department.

Rose Kue, Director of Education & Community Engagement, Portland Symphony Orchestra

Teams and individuals started work on an Individual (or team) Action Plan so they could hit the ground running when returning to their schools/districts. The Phase 5 Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) Teacher Leader’s Individual Action Plans focus on the workshops they plan to provide during the 2014-15 school year.

Maine Art Education Association secretary and MAAI teacher leader, Lisa Ingraham, provided the “chair” template so teachers could use their creativity to contribute to the wall of chairs. Lisa and her colleague Jim Small from Madison School District are seen in this post in front of the growing wall of chairs.

It was the second day of the Summit on Arts Education filled with high quality professional development. The 90 participants went away having learned a great deal, and with new questions about their understanding of teaching, learning, and assessment in arts education.

Participants “movin” with teaching artist, Stephanie McGary

 

Jeff Poulin, Arts Education Program Coordinator from the Americans for the Arts located in Washington, D.C. provided information on Arts Advocacy

Photos taken by Kevin Facer, Roger Fuller, and Argy Nestor

In Today’s News

Opportunity for 7,000 Portland students

Four of Portlands institutes: Portland Stage Company, Portland Ovations, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and the Portland Museum of Art and an anonymous Portland donor are collaborating to provide arts education opportunities for Portland students. You can read more in the newspaper article from the Portland Press Herald written by Tom Bell by clicking here.