The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst Put a Spotlight on Music Education

Related: Franz Welser-Möst, music education

The Cleveland Orchestra announces a special week of activities highlighting the importance of music education, young musicians, and the wide range of Cleveland Orchestra educational programs available to the community. The week, March 4-10, 2013, will feature hundreds of young musicians from 40 communities across Ohio in performance, and includes a special Showcase Concert and Middle School Education Concert conducted by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, Elementary School Education Concerts, a Family Concert, 23 programs presented by Cleveland Orchestra musicians in schools in greater Cleveland, and more.

The Cleveland Orchestra encourages people of all ages to participate in making, and learning about, music, through a new initiative, Make Music! The effort will include opportunities for community participation in playing and performing music at Severance Hall, Public Square, Blossom Music Center, and in other locations where the Orchestra performs. Make Music! will also support music in local schools and increase collaboration with educational and community partners.

The inaugural event of Make Music! is a Showcase Concert on Thursday, March 7, at 7:00 p.m., under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, combining The Cleveland Orchestra with all of the Orchestra's youth ensembles - the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO), the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, and the Cleveland Orchestra Children's Chorus - in concert at Severance Hall for the first time in the Orchestra's history. Three-hundred students will perform on stage with Cleveland Orchestra musicians. Young musicians from El Sistema@Rainey, an intensive after-school music program for young string musicians, will begin the program, led by their founder, Isabel Trautwein, a violinist in The Cleveland Orchestra. The concert is free and open to the public - tickets are available at clevelandorchestra.com. .

Cleveland Orchestra Executive Director Gary Hanson said, "We are launching Make Music!, because everyone in our community can enjoy, and as research has proven, benefit from, making music. We know a child's education is not complete unless it includes the arts, and music making is an especially important part of a complete music education. The Orchestra will be the catalyst to help Northeast Ohio become known worldwide for its high-quality music education and community participation in music."

Page 2 >>