Youth Concert Series, 2010-2011

The Las Vegas Philharmonic is proud to present the twelfth annual Youth Concert Series, designed to bring young students into the concert hall for a true symphonic experience. This year's program is entitled "Hats Off", and was created by Philharmonic Music Director /Conductor David Itkin in cooperation with the Clark County School District. The preparations for the Youth Concert Series occur in several steps, beginning in May of the prior year. In May, a select committee of teachers and administrators meet with Mr. Itkin to give input on the creation of the following year's musical program. Once the music is selected, curricular materials are developed by the committee to help teachers prepare students for their experience at the Philharmonic. Study guides and classroom activities are provided to all elementary music teachers during in-service training sessions prior to the start of school in the fall. As a result, students are already familiar with some of the music, as well as the composition of a symphony orchestra and audience etiquette, before they ever come to the concert hall.

The next step is the selection of student soloists to perform with the Philharmonic on the Youth Concert Series. In November of 2010, our annual Young Artists' Competition will be held in the Recital Hall on the Cheyenne campus of the College of Southern Nevada. Young musicians compete by performing a movement of a concerto of their choice, before a panel of adjudicators from the Philharmonic. All students, up through and including seniors in high school, are eligible to compete. Normally, anywhere from two to five students are selected to perform their selections during the Youth Concert Series. This competition has grown consistently throughout the years, and is now an all-day event. The Las Vegas Philharmonic Guild provides refreshments and support.

The Youth Concert Series this season is scheduled for January 11, 12 and 13, 2011, with two concerts presented each day. This year's program, "Hat's off," will open with our National Anthem and continue with music from various musical time periods. Each piece will have a hat to help students understand the time in which the piece was written. During the program, one of the winners of the Young Artists' Competition will be featured with the orchestra. The purpose of this section of the concert is not only to give the soloist the opportunity to perform with a professional orchestra, but also to show the students in the audience that one does not have to be "old" to play classical music well. In fact, as will be pointed out, most musicians begin their classical training when they are close to the same age as the members of the audience. Following the soloist's performance, the Philharmonic will continue with the "Hat's Off" theme. Students will hear a wide variety of music including an excerpt from Mozart's Musical Joke; Grieg's, In The Hall of the Mountain King; Ride of the Walkure by Wagner, and American composers, John Phillip Sousa Star and Stripes and "Mambo" from Leonard Bernstein's musical West Side Story. To date, the Las Vegas Philharmonic has performed 90 concerts for young people in the Las Vegas area, reaching well over 130,000 students. These concerts are presented to the young people of our community free of charge. Since its inception in 1999, the Philharmonic's Board of Directors has provided well over $600,000 to underwrite this worthwhile series. We are proud of the role that the Philharmonic has been able to play in the nurturing and education of our children.