recent shows

Recent family concerts have been organized in partnership with WQXR’s Classical Kids Fair, the Clark Art Institute, BRIC, and Lighthouse Works. All shows have been created by Caitlin Sullivan, Artist Leader for Education Programming

Special Occasions: Music For Celebration

• Featuring music for strings, clarinet, percussion, guitar and electronics by Gabriela Ortiz, Joseph Bologne, Kyle Sanna, and Kinan Azmeh

  • This program explores music that composers write for special occasions. This music has a special purpose, and is meant to help celebrate a special event or holiday, or helps put a spotlight on a certain subject.

Dances, Grooves, and Trains: How Rhythm Powers Music

• Featuring music for chamber orchestra by Colin Jacobsen, Curtis Stewart/Antonin Dvorak, and George Enescu, and Danish Traditional Tunes

  • From steam engine train rides through the Midwest to dance parties in Romania, this program demonstrates how rhythm and rhythmic patterns have the power to propel a musical story forward.

The Great Outdoors: Musical Stories In Nature

• Featuring music for strings by Dame Ethel Smyth, Ralph Vaughn-Williams, and Felix Mendelssohn

  • This program takes key elements of story-telling – character and setting – and imagines musical stories in the great outdoors by exploring musical motifs and textures.

Main Character Energy! Leading And Following In Chamber Music

• Featuring music for string octet and bass by Colin Jacobsen, Osvaldo Golijov, Joseph Haydn, and Felix Mendelssohn

  • This program explores how we all have leading and following roles in chamber music, and how everyone in the ensemble gets to have their moment in the spotlight!

With A Passion! Ways We Express Passion Through Music

• Featuring music for strings, solo clarinet, percussion, guitar, and electronics by Kinan Azmeh, Camille Saint-Saëns, Kyle Sanna

  • We express passionate feelings in so many ways, whether it’s talking really fast, jumping up and down, singing songs, dancing, or believing in an important cause. This program explores the many ways that music helps us express our excitement and passion!

On Wings Of Song

• Featuring music for flute, violin, cello, and harp João Gilberto, Ralph Vaughn-Williams, and Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Traditional American Tunes

  • Composers around the world have always been inspired by birds, our winged friends that come in every shape and size. This program highlights and celebrates birds through music from different traditions and cultures.

Play Out!

• Featuring music for string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven, Elaine Fine, Vivian Fung, P. Tchaikovsky, Colin Jacobsen, Mel Zhang (Student of the Very Young Composers Program), Felix Mendelssohn, Sufjan Stevens, Jessie Montgomery, and Thomas Tallis

  • This program focuses on what it means to feel deeply, and how recognizing our big emotions is the foundation for how we relate to ourselves and interact with others. Play Out! explores how music is an amazing representation of the things we feel inside.

Movies In The Morning

• Featuring music for string quartet, clarinet, and piano by Philip Glass, Leonard Bernstein, Antonio Vivaldi, Scott Joplin, and Harold Arlen

  • This program is a creative exploration of imagining our own musical movie!

Stay On It! Musical Patterns

• Featuring music for violin, viola, cello, and marimba by Julius Eastman, J. S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Devon Lee (Juilliard Pre-College student)

  • Humans love finding patterns to help us understand and navigate our world, and this program explores the many kinds of patterns that we can discover in music.

Game On! Playful Interactions Of The Cello and Bass

• Featuring for cello and bass by François Couperin, Michael Oesterle, Bela Bartok, and Asha Melvani (Juilliard Pre-College Student)

  • This program highlights the playful and fun interactions between a large instrument, the cello, and an even larger instrument, the bass. Whether through indoor games like a puzzle, or outdoor games like tag, these instruments engage in a little friendly competition!