Orchestra to visit schools in Valley

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Randall Craig Fleischer and narrator Heidi Joyce, will travel throughout the Mahoning Valley next week to bring music to more than 3,000 elementary and secondary school students with their Young Peoples Concerts series.

Its program, “Meet the Orchestra: Bach to the Future,” is a 50-minute interactive concert for kindergarten through eighth-grade students. It introduces them to the instruments of the orchestra and their history. It begins Monday.

The program demonstrates how each instrument creates its unique sound and contributes to the overall success of the ensemble.

Selections include music from John Williams’ “Superman” and “Star Wars,” Vivaldi’s “Summer” from “The Four Seasons,” Bach’s “Little Fugue,” excerpts from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Mozart’s 35th Symphony, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.”

Schools to be visited during the weeklong tour include Lordstown Elementary School, Western Reserve Elementary School, St. Joseph the Provider School, Campbell Elementary School, Paul C. Bunn School in Youngstown, St. Nicholas School in Struthers, Holy Family School in Poland, St. Rose School in Girard and South Range Elementary School.

Before its visit to the schools, the orchestra invited classroom instructors to engage their students in activities to prepare them, such as researching the history of the orchestra’s musical families; reading about composers represented on the program and their music; holding discussions about teamwork at home, in school and at play; and creating musical instruments from household items. Students who play instruments were encouraged to bring their instruments to school.