Each spring the Lowery Freshman Center Auditorium is seated to capacity as the Allen Philharmonic presents three concurrent concert programs of our annual Youth Concert performance to reach every third grade student in Allen ISD.
Developed ten years ago as the first stage that enriches the fine arts experience every elementary student enjoys from third through sixth grade, this concert experience is the collaboration of Richard C. Giangiulio, our artistic director, Tony Driggers, the Allen ISD elementary school music coordinator and Music Teachers from each elementary campus. The entire concert program is designed to be age appropriate and enrich the experience the students learn in their music education classes. Past performances celebrated Mozart’s 250th Birthday and have featured selections from the UIL Third Grade Music Memory competition.
In the past four years, the Allen Philharmonic has more fully developed the programming by inviting actors, soloists, and dance troupes as our special guests who have interpreted the featured work for the enjoyment of the students. For the past two seasons we have hosted the Gold Medalist of our very own Roger & Ella Jo Adams Concerto Competition winner as a special guest artist for the students.
These performances have included:
- Dallas Black Dance Theatre troupe in a performance of Peter and The Wolf. This allowed the students to hear the music by the orchestra, listen to the narration of the story the music, and visualize the experience with the dancers
- Carl Johnson as narrator of Grant Cooper’s arrangement of Rumplestiltzkin. Born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1953, the son of an opera singer Grant Cooper sang and acted in his first opera at age four. The music Mr. Cooper wrote for Rumpelstiltzkin runs from Dixieland to Central American Samba to music based on styles popular during the musical Renaissance of over 300 years ago. In telling this story, transformations in characters–like the Miller’s Daughter who transforms from ordinary citizen to queen of the realm–is represented by transformations the students heard in the music.
- Yifan Liu and Yurie Iwasaki, our guest piano soloists, in a performance of Carnival of the Animals that was interpreted by our special guests, Dallas Black Dance Theatre.
Music and classroom teachers alike have enthusiastically written reviews of our work:
In Cheryl Goodwin’s words, Music Director for Anderson Elementary, “This is by FAR the best performance by the Allen Philharmonic for our 3rd graders. Age appropriate, engaging, and it exemplifies the district’s focus on ‘Working on the Work (WOW)”! They have reached perfection!”
Another comment:
Good Morning Kathy,
I am a 3rd grade teacher at Anderson, and wanted to “Thank you ” for a great performance yesterday. I was thrilled that it was “Rumpelstiltskin,” our 3rd graders are currently learning about Fairy Tales. Yesterday’s performance tied in with our curriculum and the students were excited that they had great schema about this fairy tale.
Hoping that the Allen Philharmonic will continue to have a partnership with our school district to continue providing opportunities that some may not have an easy access to enjoy.
Again, thank you for coming to perform for our students, and in helping nurture the love of classical music!
Xiomara I. Lord
3rd Grade Teacher
Anderson Elementary