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Free program introduces kids to Guelph Symphony Orchestra (11 photos)

GSO kicks off its 2016-17 season at the River Run on Dec. 11

The Guelph Symphony Orchestra has devised a program to introduce children to the instruments in an orchestra and to what it’s like to sit through a performance in a professional concert hall.

They will get their first experience on Dec. 11 when the GSO kicks off its 2016-17 season at the River Run Centre.

The GSO Kids’ Club program is designed to build musical appreciation and future audience for the local orchestra, but its bigger purpose is to expose children to forms of music they might not hear otherwise and to provide performance opportunities for young musicians in the community.

And this season there’s a special symmetry as two of the headline performers in upcoming Kids’ Club performances found their musical footing in Guelph.

The Kids’ Club has been around for many years, said Catherine Molina, general manager of the GSO, “and it’s a fantastic program,” she said in an interview. “It’s an opportunity for parents to give their kids the experience of a live concert without the worry of price. For anyone with apprehension about attending a live show with their kids, this is the perfect introduction.”

The orchestra offers three shows a year where children aged six the 13 can attend the free Kids Club program.

During the first half of these shows, while ticket-holders enjoy the concert, an orchestra member will spend 30 minutes with the children outside of the concert hall, showing their instrument and demonstrating how it works. Sometimes the children get to tour backstage and meet the guest performers as well.

It’s interactive, casual, and allows children to become comfortable with the sights and sounds of a concert hall without fear or intimidation, Molina said. After intermission Kids’ Club attendees and their parents can watch the second half of the show in the main concert hall.

The GSO Kids’ Club is sponsored by PrimeCare Pharmacy Arboretum, covering the cost of tickets for some 35 children and their parents.

“We so believe symphonic music should be affordable and accessible,” Molina said. The GSO offers a KinderConcert series – performances geared to children under five, and older kids may opt to learn an instrument and join the Guelph Youth Symphony Orchestra.

But there was no program for the in-between age group, Molina said.

“This is to fill that age gap,” she said.

The concert on Dec. 11 features the Blundell Trumpet Trio, three siblings who once played with the Guelph Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Still in their teens, this brother and sister group has won numerous competitions and played a side-by-concert with the GSO.

Music students are generally older before taking up the trumpet, Molina said. This family wanted their kids exposed early and drove from Toronto to Guelph every week for years to learn the instrument.

“The orchestra leader let them in,” Molina said. “They have such strong memories of coming to Guelph every week. It’s so great to see them taking off now.”

They will play Teleman’s Concerto 3 for Trumpet. They will also speak to children in the Kids’ Club.

The second half of the concert, where Kids’ Club members can attend, will be a performance of the first act of The Nutcracker, complete with the Guelph Youth Symphony Orchestra, The Guelph Youth Singers, and the Young Artists of Oakville Ballet company.

“It will have all the highlights and the songs you know and love,” Molina said. “And it will really showcase some talented youth.”

The following Kids’ Club concert is Feb. 12, 2017. This one will feature Mitch Moffatt and Greg Brown, creators of the YouTube science show asapSCIENCE. Moffitn was born in Guelph and achieved some fame in the international contest, The Best Job in the World, in which he placed third.

Moffit was also Molina’s piano student at one time, “and he’s a fine musician,” she said. For the February concert he will perform his Periodic Table Song.

Tickets for the shows are sold through the River Run Centre box office at www.riverrun.ca.  For more information about the shows or to register for the GSO Kids’ Club performance, visit www.guelphsymphony.com.


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