February 13, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … The 2004-05 season will mark Music Director Carlos Kalmar’s first appearance on the Kids Concert series as he leads the Oregon Symphony in a concert featuring Prokofiev’s children’s classic, “Peter and the Wolf,” in the first of three concerts in the series, which runs from Nov. 2004 through March, 2005.
Also on the series is the return of the acclaimed children’s mime troupe Magic Circle Mime with an all-new program, “Orchestra X from Outer Space,” and Madcap Puppet Theatre’s “Fairy Tale Fantasies,” featuring Assistant Conductor Mei-Ann Chen and the Symphony performing music from Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty,” Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite” and Scott Wooley’s “The Ugly Duckling.” Media support for Oregon Symphony Kids Concerts is provided by Metro Parent. All performances will be at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Kalmar makes his debut on the Kids Concert series on Nov. 14, 2004 with one of the all-time classic children’s musical stories, the immortal tale of a willful boy who disobeys his grandfather and sets off to catch himself a wolf. This old Russian folktale has been a mainstay of children’s classical music since Prokofiev set it to almost 70 years ago and introduced it to a global audience. Using different instruments to portray the various animal and human characters, “Peter and the Wolf” breathes new life into this old fable. Kalmar and the orchestra will demonstrate how music can be “instrumental” in telling a story.
On Jan. 16, 2005, Madcap Productions Puppet Theatre, a nonprofit touring children’s theater company which combines giant puppets with actors to create a unique style of puppet theater, makes its Symphony debut with an afternoon of classic fairy tales set to music by Ravel, Tchaikovsky and other renowned composers. Using puppets that reach up to 12 feet tall, and range in style from hand to rod to body to backpack puppets, Madcap’s “Fairy Tale Fantasies” will introduce children to a whole new concept of puppetry, one that allows all the elements of theater to be combined in an artistic and educational performance.
The Kids Concert Series concludes on March 6, 2005 with the return of Magic Circle Mime, whom audiences will remember from the 2002-03 season when they presented their fun-loving program “The Listener.” For this concert they will present a brand new program, “Orchestra X from Outer Space,” in which aliens from Planet X attempt to take over the Symphony and make it into their own extra-terrestrial orchestra. Regarded as one of today’s premier family attractions, Magic Circle Mime’s acclaimed performances, which unite the concert orchestra with visual theater, are known for their creative, educational and ground-breaking approach.
The Kids Concert series is designed to introduce young people ages 5-10 to the music of a symphony orchestra in an educational and entertaining way. It is comprised of three one-hour concerts presented Sunday afternoons at 1 and 3 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland at S.W. Broadway and Main, in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.
Subscriptions for the Kids Concert series range in price from $21 to $84 for adults and $18 to $63 for children (age 12 & under), and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office in downtown Portland at 923 S.W. Washington, or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343, weekdays (and Saturdays, Sept. through May) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Subscription orders also may be placed online at www.orsymphony.org. Single tickets to all 2004-05 Kids Concert events will be available to the general public at 9 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2004.
