South Bend Community Re-Entry Center Partners with Symphony for Free Youth Concert

In a remarkable second initiative this year, the compassionate men of the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center are once again making a positive impact on their community. In partnership with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the residents will make ten percent of the hall free for young people to attend the Shein Trust annual children's concert Peter + the Wolf on Sunday, November 26 at 6 p.m., at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Giving back to the youth population started in April 2023 when the residents pooled their resources to provide 160 free tickets to students in the South Bend Area to attend the Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 concert, along with a pizza party. For many of the young concertgoers, it was their first time attending a symphony concert as well as being in the Morris Performing Arts Center.

"Over the past few years, we have intensified our efforts to serve others, and this is a great example of the men serving the community. The men feel strongly that every kid should experience the Symphony," said Warden Charles E. Bowen, of the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center.

The partnership blossomed out of the Symphony's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee chaired by South Bend Symphony Board President Dr. Marvin Curtis and Executive Director Justus Zimmerman. Working Warden Charles Bowen and Maria Kaczmerick, the men attend Symphony performances in various locations throughout the city.

This concert includes the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg, and Shades of Orange for the Shein Trust annual Family Concert, Peter + the Wolf, on Sunday, November 26 at 2:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center!

Featuring the experimental theater group Shades of Orange, "Peter + the Wolf" is a captivating spectacle of artistry and storytelling. As Conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg raises the baton, the orchestra and actors spring to life, each instrument assuming its role as a character in this musical fable. Most recently Conductor of the Symphony's "A Night at Woodstock," Samuels-Shragg is back to lead this fun afternoon of drama and music, designed to entertain and educate the entire family.

"I had a terrific time working with the wonderful South Bend Symphony Orchestra musicians last spring and can't wait to return," Conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg explains, "This time in collaboration with Shades of Orange, to bring Prokofiev's fantastical music to life for the families of South Bend!"

"We are beyond excited to partner with the Symphony and bring this classic tale more fully to life. Music is an amazing way to tell a story, and when you pair that with theatrical storytelling-the result will surely be spectacular," Liz Zimmerman, President and Co-Founder of Shades of Orange, adds.

The Symphony thanks Shein Trust for supporting this concert series and Jordan Lexus of Mishawaka for being a distinguished Artistic Sponsor of the 2023-24 Season.

TICKETS

Student/Children tickets are only $12 and adult tickets are $24.

ONLINE - www.dpactickets.nd.edu

PHONE - DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Box Office (574) 631-2800. (Noon - 6 pm, Monday - Friday)

IN-PERSON - Visit our friends at the DeBartolo (100 Performing Arts Center Notre Dame, IN 46556) during the times listed above or two hours before any performance.

To VIEW the 2023-24 Season schedule, visit www.southbendsymphony.org

Dates, programs, and venues are subject to change.

About the South Bend Symphony Orchestra

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra lives its mission by engaging the community in exploring orchestral music in all its forms, producing more than 20 mainstage programs serving more than 17,000 attendees annually. As the region's only professional orchestra, the Symphony is committed to a diversity of sound and a robust arts community in Michiana.

About Shades of Orange

Shades of Orange's mission is to create space where theatrical artists can thrive, building access for every audience member to experience and engage with Shakespeare, new works, and underperformed writers. Theatre for, by, and in the community. To do theatre where theatre isn't done.

About Shira Samuels-Shragg

American conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg was recently selected for The Dallas Opera's Hart Institute, and as a 2024 mentee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. This fall, Shira will assume her new position as assistant conductor for the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, while maintaining her current assistant conductor post with the Plano Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Shira guest conducted interdisciplinary concerts with the Spokane, Corpus Christi, and South Bend symphony orchestras. She is passionate about sharing the wonders of music with young audiences and has led education concerts with the Spokane and Plano symphonies for over 23,000 students, served as cover conductor for Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic, and co-founded Plano Symphony's Summer Youth Orchestra Camp. Shira co-founded the Youth Orchestra Camp with PSO's Education Director, Dr. Jennifer Wheeler, with whom Shira has launched multiple other new community initiatives. These projects include the P.I.T. Program, designed to recruit and mentor high school musicians to perform in musical theater productions with North Texas Performing Arts (NTPA), and the Women Composers Concert Series which begins in spring of 2024.

Last summer, Shira joined Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the USA 2022 as their Assistant Conductor for their New York residency and tour across Europe with Daniel Harding. Shira was one of NYO's inaugural conducting apprentices as a high schooler in 2015, and was delighted to return seven years later as their assistant.

In May 2022, Shira graduated with her Master of Music in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School, where she studied with David Robertson. While there, she served as assistant conductor to guest artists such as Barbara Hannigan and Sir Antonio Pappano. As co-conductor of the Juilliard Lab Orchestra, Shira made her Alice Tully Hall debut. Additionally, she curated two conducting recitals that placed new works in conversation with classical symphonies.

Shira holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a minor in German Studies from Swarthmore College, where she studied conducting with Andrew Hauze, and piano with Marcantonio Barone. While at Swarthmore, she served as Music Director for the world premiere of Cassandra, an opera by composer Thomas Whitman and poet/librettist Nathalie Anderson. This experience deepened Shira's desire to continue using music to uplift women's voices and stories and solidified her love of opera.

About the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center

As a model of public safety, the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center promotes the successful reintegration of lawful, self-sufficient, and productive citizens into the community. This is done through the thoughtful application of dynamic supervision, experienced rehabilitative programming, and by providing opportunities for residents to demonstrate a strong work ethic and civic duty to foster productive partnerships with employers and citizens in our local communities. In 1967, new legislation allowed the Department of Correction to place selected incarcerated individuals, who are within 12-months of their release, in a community-based work release re-entry program to prepare for their transition back into society. The South Bend Community Re-Entry Center, which is the oldest existing state work release program in Indiana, was established in 1971. In 2012, the center moved to its present location and increased the rated capacity to 201. The facility provides re-entry services to incarcerated individuals being released throughout northern Indiana and has both a work release program component and re-entry education program component for long-term incarcerated individuals.

 

---

Join Team BroadwayWorld

Are you an avid theatergoer? We're looking for people like you to share your thoughts and insights with our readers. Team BroadwayWorld members get access to shows to review, conduct interviews with artists, and the opportunity to meet and network with fellow theatre lovers and arts workers.

Interested? Learn more here.

---

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!