#593 A Very Special Tuesday Evening

Last Tuesday evening Maryann and I joined our friends Ted and Priscilla for a very special evening of music. The Lansing High School partnered with the Kansas City Symphony to Support School Music. The following information comes from the program.

The Support School Music program was established in 2003 in order to provide area school districts the opportunity to host the Kansas City Symphony and raise funding in support of the district music program. Since its inception, area school music programs have raised more than $85,000 in revenue as a direct result of thie program.

In addition to the performance itself, the Kansas City Symphony also presents an open rehearsal for students as well as small-group question and answer sessions with the district students - all at no cost to the school. School districts hosting the program have included schools in Missouri and Kansas.

The musical program consisted of Dvorak's Carnival Overture, op. 92, (You can listen to this piece here.)

Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, op.34, highs school senior Luke provided the narration for this piece. (You can watch and listen to this piece here.) He did a most outstanding job. We all got to know more about how the various instrument contribute to the overall piece.

The last piece of the evening was Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio expagnol, op. 34 (Go here to hear this piece.)

I can't enthuse enough about the joy of that evening. Anytime that young people have an opportunity to experience what these students experienced, it is a step in the correct direction. There is no doubt that those students who did avail themselves of this opportunity as these did were greatly rewarded. I know I was rewarded. Young Luke made a fantastic presentation.

On Friday we go to listen to Randy Sparks and the New Christie Minstrels. Randy happens to be a native of Leavenworth, KS, our Northern suburb.

#593