Dayton, Ohio (January 21, 2009) – On Wednesday, February 4, at 9:30 am and 11:00 am at the Schuster Center, Music Director Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will present the DPO’s eleventh annual High School Concert, Liberty and Lincoln: The United States and the Civil War. This concert is specifically designed for teenage audiences (Grades 7-12) and is planned to link to Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum.
This concert celebrates the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and features music inspired by the events of the Civil War. Students will hear Lincoln’s own words from The Gettysburg Address in Copland’s stirring Lincoln Portrait, authentic military band music, and a work by Charles Ives, which pays tribute to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the all-black regiment whose story is told in the movie Glory.
“The key to success in reaching high schoolers is to capture their imagination and show them respect,” Gittleman states, “to play the best music in our repertoire and reveal its secrets. Kids at this age crave powerful, gripping experiences. No experience is more powerful and more gripping than hearing a great orchestra perform great music live in a great concert hall. For only $6.00 per seat, students will embark on an exciting voyage of musical discovery. Their idea about classical music will never be the same!”
A concert especially for high school students that focuses on musical styles related to historical trends, the repertoire includes Gould’s American Salute; the first movement of Ives’s Three Places in New England; Civil War Military Music, including Yankee Doodle, Dixie and the Bonnie Blue Flag and the Fireman’s Polka; and Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.
The theme of this concert, Liberty and Lincoln: The United States and the Civil War, will be explored not only through the concert experience, but also through teacher concert preparation materials, which include a Teacher’s Guide and a CD of concert excerpts. These materials contain information about the composers and the music and make links to classroom curriculum. There is no charge for these materials. Teachers receive them after making a reservation.
Cost: $6 per seat.
For photographs of Neal Gittleman or any of the various series’ guest artists, go to:
http://www.daytonphilharmonic.com/08-09/mediaaccess