As part of Queens Symphony Orchestra’s commitment to arts-in-education for school children of the borough, the second of two annual Young People’s Concerts will take place on Thursday, May 22, at Colden Center, Queens College, in Flushing. Two p
Guest conductor George Garrett Keast will lead QSO for these concerts. Keast has served on the staff of the Metropolitan Opera for three seasons and has conducted several of America’s top orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, New York Symphony and the Houston Symphony Chamber players among others. He is passionate about teaching young people, building audiences for classical music and developing stimulating programming for the modern symphony orchestra.
The multi-faceted QSO Arts-in-Education program gives participating elementary school children the opportunity to share in QSO musician-led classroom workshops, in-school chamber ensemble performances and program-culminating Young People’s Concerts which brings the students into a concert hall setting for exposure to a live, professional orchestral experience.
“A Kaleidoscope of Music,” a specially prepared study guide by QSO education staff, is provided to classroom teachers in advance of the concert and provides pre-concert insightful information on featured composers, musical vocabulary, orchestral instruments and classroom activities that explore such areas as conducting techniques and music writing. Open-ended questions prompt the children to be critical thinkers who can make a meaningful connection between present knowledge and what will be happening onstage.
“A Kaleidoscope of Music” will demonstrate the tremendous versatility of music as a creative device to communicate a diversity of styles and ideas. Featured works will include selections from Handel’s “Water Music Suites,” the Strauss “Danube Waltz,” Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer” and two surprise patriotic sing-alongs.
The QSO takes music education a step beyond the basic precept that music study enhances other learning. Objectives of the Arts-in-Education program are to venture past traditional schooling aimed at the lower cognitive processes of knowledge and comprehension and utilize activities that promote wonder, imagination, assessment and criticism and empower children to be advanced-level critical thinkers who make an investment in education through engaging and extraordinary learning.
For more information on the Young People’s Concerts call QSO at 718-326-4455.
