More than 11,000 MCPS Fifth Graders Attend Strathmore Concerts This Week

October 15, 2012

More than 11,000 fifth grade students from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will experience classical music this week when the Music Center at Strathmore hosts the annual Strathmore Student Concerts on October 15-18, 2012. Students fill the grand 2,000-seat concert hall in droves seven times over four consecutive days for this Strathmore tradition, a hallmark of the arts center’s community outreach initiatives.

Students will be treated to a redesigned concert experience for 2012. The concerts by the National Philharmonic, led by Music Director & Conductor Piotr Gajewski, include music by composers Benjamin Britten (Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra) and Astor Piazzolla (Oblivion), as well as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, a thrilling finale that includes spectacular cannon fire effects and student participation.

With fast-paced explanations of the works supported by imagery on a large screen above the stage, the concerts reinforce musical concepts students are learning in school. Students have been learning about the musical selections prior to attending the concerts.

The fifth-grade student concerts represent a $124,000 investment in the community. Strathmore also hosts a similar program for second graders, bringing the total investment by Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc., Geico, Jordan Kitt’s Music, Capital One Bank and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation to $248,000. The first student concert was held in 2004.

WHAT: Strathmore Student Concerts with the National Philharmonic

WHEN October 15-18, 2012
12:15 p.m. on October 15
10:35 am and 12:15 p.m. October 16-18
(Students arrive 45 minutes prior to each concert)

WHERE: Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 20852

MEDIA CONTACTS
- Strathmore: Mike Fila, (301) 581-5194, (410) 615-6654 (cell), mfila@strathmore.org
- MCPS: Dana Tofig, (301) 279-3853, Dana_Tofig@mcpsmd.org
- National Philharmonic: Deborah Birnbaum, (301) 493-9283 x 118, deborah@nationalphilharmonic.org

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