Children's Festival was a huge success!

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s annual Children’s Arts Festival sold out on Sunday, June 7, with the more than 900 children and parents coming along for Adventures in Music.

For the hour before the concert began, the children were able to play with instruments ranging from hand bells to cellos in the instrument petting zoo, creating an amazing cacophony of sound in the lobby of the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Art Center. Outside, kids crowded the art tents -- creating their own guitars and drums out of balloons, rubber bands and cardboard boxes. Children and their parents also got help from the Del Ray Artisans, The Art League and the Torpedo Factory with drawings, paintings and screen
printings.

The concert was packed as Maestro Kim Allen Kluge, dressed as the Hobbit Frodo, told the crowd that “Little people can do big things,” and led the orchestra through selections from “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and Bugs Bunny’s “What’s Opera, Doc?” Student artwork created a splash of color projected in the darkened hall. Kluge also walked the children through a mini music class – singling out each type of instrument and describing a little about each so students would understand a bit more about what they were hearing.

For upcoming events, and information about the ’09-’10 season $5 youth matinee tickets, go to www.alexsym.org.


Photos by Susan Kinghton Cavanaugh

Gather the kids -- it's time for the Children's Arts Festival

Kill the Wabbit!


What's Opera, Doc? - The most amazing videos are a click away


What: Annual Children’s Arts Festival: “Adventures in Music,”
Featuring selections from soundtracks to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Fellowship of the Ring and Bugs Bunny’s What’s Opera, Doc?(Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries & Tannhäuser Overture)

When: Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 2 p.m. – activities at 2 p.m., concert at 3 p.m.

Where: Schlesinger Concert Hall, NOVA Community College, Alexandria campus, 3001 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, VA

Price: $5 general admission

Info: Call 703-548-0885 or visit www.alexsym.org for tickets

This year's Children's Art Festival promises to be a great family day full of arts and crafts, exploration, and music. Art created by Alexandria school children will be displayed. Children will be able to play with orchestra instruments and make their own instruments to take home using paper towel rolls and rubber bands.

Kids -- no matter if they are piano prodigies or just wear a hole in "Kidz Bop" -- will benefit from the experience of listening to a live orchestra. They will hear music from Bugs Bunny, The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

The whole family can listen to powerful live music, dance, create and play all day for only $5 per person!

Help pass Obama's amazing arts budget

Last week, President Obama released his plans for funding the arts, and well, it's pretty fantastic news for those of us who love music and art.

As Americans for the Arts President & CEO Robert Lynch noted in a press statement, "The president's proposed funding of $161 million would take the NEA to its highest funding level in 15 years and will help continue the upward trend of budgetary growth that Congress established several years ago. In contrast to the previous administration, this year's budget includes funding for the Arts in Education program at the Department of Education at $38.16 million."

Of course, this isn't the end. Please send a message to your senator and representatives to urge them to support the president's budget. Let's keep art in our public schools!

Maestro musings: Singing out the '08-'09 season and looking forward to next season

Younger than springtime, are you
Softer than starlight, are you,
Warmer than winds of June,
Are the gentle lips you gave me

South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein





"O Passionate Voice," the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra's 2008-2009 Season Grand Finale concert on May 2 features three soul-stirring, transcendent and unforgettably melodic masterpieces: Symphonic Suite from South Pacific; Wagner's Tannhauser Overture; and Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5. This irresistibly "singable" program is the climactic conclusion to our popular Inspired by the Voice season.

South Pacific's heart-warming music could just as easily been included on next season's program, Inspired by Nature. This celebration of nature and it's intrinsic connection to music includes an all-Beethoven concert, Carmina Burana, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons.



In our 2009-2010 Inspired by Nature season you will hear some of our favorite guest artists who are returning by popular demand. Tenor Ta'u Pupu'a will be singing Mahler's Songs of the Earth and Carlos Rodriguez will dazzle you with Gershwin's toe-tapping Piano Concerto. The ASO also welcomes Washington National Opera's Elizabeth Bishop, violinist Leonid Sushansky, flutist Josue Casillas, and the husband-wife violin duo MarcOlivia,

I am also very excited to announce a dynamic new ASO series that will begin next season. Our popular Sunday afternoon concerts will include interactive demonstrations given by the musicians as well as exciting visuals and inter-arts collaborations. The style of these concerts will be more relaxed but the music-making will be as red-hot as ever.



Our natural world certainly continues to inspire contemporary composers like myself. My Haiku Suite: Three Nature Poems for Sakuhachi and Orchestra will premiere on March 14, 2010 in our “Songs of the Earth” Sunday concert. I wrote it after journeying through Asia and having been inspired by the overwhelming beauty of the countryside, mountains and seas.

See you at the concert!

Kim Allen Kluge
Music Director, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

Maestro Musings from Kim Allen Kluge

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

Hey JC, JC won't you smile at me?

Sanna Hosanna

Hey Superstar

~ Rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Let perpetual light shine upon them, O Lord.

~ Requiem, Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Two Superstars

What do Andrew Lloyd Webber and superstar saxophonist Branford Marsalis have in common? They are both legendary “cross-over” artists. Webber’s inimitable style is evident in such disparate genres as his rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar and his liturgically-inspired Requiem. You can hear Webber’s Requiem on the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s March 8th O Lyric Voice program.

The ASO is excited to welcome back Branford Marsalis as the headliner for this special concert in our vocally inspired season. When you look at the program, you will see my name listed amongst the composers— I will be conducting, and the ASO will be performing my original composition, Vocalise for Branford Marsalis. I have long been inspired by Marsalis’ extraordinary versatility as an artist, and with Vocalise, I wanted to embody Marsalis’ natural and seamless blending of classical and jazz styles. This piece also strives to express Branford’s sophistication that is always accessible through his intensely melodic style. I wrote Vocalise as a tribute to Marsalis’ highly-charged mastery, sensitivity, and vocality. Upon receiving the score, Branford commented, “It really does sound like me! Way cool.”

Mr. Marsalis will also be performing vocally inspired works by Bach, Ibert and others. Ibert began studying the dramatic arts before turning to music. He believed that music was closely linked to the other arts, and it was simply part of a larger emotional response to all aspects of experience. He was a true “cross-over” artist long before the term was conceived!

The Metropolitan Chorus, the Heritage Signature Chorale, and soloists will be joining the ASO on March 8^th for our O Lyric Voice performance, and I will be sharing the podium with acclaimed conductors Barry Hemphill and Stanley Thurston.

With the talents of Branford Marsalis and the voices of our choral partners, O Lyric Voice is a true celebration of the power of lyricism—whether it be sax, symphony… or the voice itself.

See you at the concert!

Kim Allen Kluge

Music Director, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra