Las Vegas Philharmonic Youth Concert Series to Kick Off Jan 12

The Las Vegas Philharmonic will perform 10 free concerts to schoolchildren in its annual Youth Concert Series. From Monday, January 12 through Friday, January 16, the orchestra will perform two 45-minute concerts each morning in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, reaching 15,000 fourth and fifth grade students from 132 schools throughout the Las Vegas Valley. These concerts are not open to the general public.

The Youth Concert Series will be conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong, Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony and Grand Teton Music Festival. Lecce-Chong has also served as conductor for the Brooklyn Repertory Opera and Santa Fe Opera. As an advocate for arts education, Lecce-Chong provides artistic leadership for the Milwaukee Symphony's Arts in Community Education program.

The Youth Concert Series will include the following music selections: Key's Star-Spangled Banner, Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, Yuan's Dance of the Yao People, Marquez's Danzon No. 2, and Orffenbach's Cancan. Clark County School District, in partnership with the Philharmonic's education committee, developed the music curriculum for this year's Youth Concert Series. Children attending the program will learn about the composers and their music during the course of the school year, participating in expository writing assignments and dance/movement activities performed in tandem with the music. These lesson plans prepare the children for the Las Vegas Philharmonic concert by providing insight into the history, meaning and melody of each piece in the performance.

Young Artists' Concerto Competition - Every November, the Philharmonic presents a Young Artists' Concerto Competition for young Nevada musicians through senior year in high school. Winners of the competition perform as soloists at the Youth Concerts, providing many with their first opportunity to play with a professional symphony orchestra. By presenting young musicians on stage in close age to the children in the audience, the organization hopes to inspire young students to learn to play an instrument. In January, the soloists will be: Erika Dalton, 14, violin, from the Las Vegas Academy; and Joshua Riel, 15, double bass, from the Las Vegas Academy; and second-time winner Devon Zubka, 17, cello, from Green Valley High School.

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