New York Philharmonic Releases Jean Sibelius Installment of 'Young People's Concerts Play!' Series

The New York Philharmonic has issued "Jean Sibelius - Music of a Hero, Music of a Nation," the next release in its online learning platform Young People's Concerts Play! The release is available free at nyphil.org/ypcplay.

Young People's Concerts Play! makes the Philharmonic's signature Young People's Concerts - which introduce young audiences to the orchestra through interactive concerts featuring repertoire of all periods - available for on-demand streaming, enhanced by innovative lessons and learning games for classrooms (grades 3-6).

"Jean Sibelius - Music of a Hero, Music of a Nation" explores what makes music sound heroic and how anthems can unite through performances and discussions of three of Sibelius's tone poems: Lemminkainen's Return, En saga, and Finlandia. The interactive features include a composition game designed by NYU Steinhardt's Music Experience Design Lab, led by Alex Ruthmann, Professor of Music Education & Music Technology at New York University, and videos featuring New York Philharmonic Teaching Artists designed to engage classrooms. The release also includes videos of the Orchestra performing original music by students in the Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program.

The three previous Young People's Concerts Play! releases are units on Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World; Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream; and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The Young People's Concerts Play! learning platform was created by New York Philharmonic Teaching Artists working with staff from the Center for Children and Technology (CCT, part of the nonprofit Education Development Center) and the Philharmonic to translate their in-school workshops for Philharmonic Schools into interactive lessons for Young People's Concerts Play!. The platform also includes "Build Your Own Orchestra," an interactive audio-visual experience created by Musicjelly and commissioned in partnership with London's Barbican Centre that allows students to explore and deconstruct an orchestral piece with Philharmonic players.

Young People's Concerts Play! continues the Philharmonic's tradition of sharing Young People's Concerts (YPCs) as widely as possible. The Philharmonic presented its first of the current YPC series on January 26, 1924. Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein made YPCs an international sensation through televised broadcasts from 1958 to 1972, syndicated in 40 countries. Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival, October 25-November 14, 2017, will include the YPC Inspirations and Tributes: "Celebrating Leonard Bernstein," an all-Bernstein program led by Leonard Slatkin on November 11, 2017. The Philharmonic has taken YPCs around the world, including to Tokyo in 2004 and 2009; Hong Kong in 2008; Shanghai in 2008, 2015, 2016, and 2017; Abu Dhabi in 2009; and London in 2012 and 2015 as part of its International Associate residency at the Barbican Centre.

The New York Philharmonic has been a leader in education since the 19th century, and its groundbreaking educational events continue today, each year collectively serving more than 40,000 people at live events and millions more online. Young People's Concerts (for ages 6-12) explore the repertoire with the full Orchestra. In Very Young People's Concerts (ages 3-6), Philharmonic musicians introduce preschool children to classical music through games, active listening, hands-on music-making, and chamber music performances. Young People's Concerts for Schools (grades 3-12) are developed by Philharmonic Teaching Artists and partner school teachers to adapt Young People's Concerts to classroom audiences, many of whom have been prepared through the in-school curriculum offered by Philharmonic Schools, the immersive classroom program spearheaded by the Philharmonic's Teaching Artists. The Very Young Composers program (grades 4-12) enables students to compose their own music and hear it performed by Philharmonic musicians, often the full Orchestra; communities in the U.S. and abroad have established their own versions of Very Young Composers with assistance from the Philharmonic. Insights at the Atrium are free discussions for adults delving into the themes of the season. The New York Philharmonic Global Academy comprises customized collaborations with partners worldwide that offer intensive training of pre-professional musicians by New York Philharmonic members, often alongside regular performance residencies by the full Orchestra.