Music and Poetry focuses on sources of composers’ inspiration
On Tuesday, March 27, 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 ninth annual High School Concert, Music and Poetry. This concert is specifically designed for teenage audiences (Grades 7-12) and is planned to link to Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum.
The arts and humanities record human events and connect our past and present lives through common experiences. Through the years, composers have been inspired by many different experiences – culture, nature, drama, literature, and poetry. The DPO will explore the connections between music and poetry, including that of Dayton’s own Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
“The key to success in reaching highschoolers 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 the connections between music and poetry, the repertoire includes Vivaldi’s Spring from The Four Seasons; Toch’s Geographical Fugue; Still’s Afro-American Symphony, 3rd movement; Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune; and Liszt’s Les Preludes.
The theme of this concert, Music and Poetry, 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.