Late last week, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Adventures in Music program kicked off its spring cycle of performances. Between now and April, the orchestra will perform in three Manitoba cities (Winnipeg, Brandon and Winkler), and will provide over 13,000 students in Grades 4-8 the opportunity to experience the full WSO in performance. As well, over 500 students will perform with the orchestra: either playing recorder, strings or percussion, or singing, or dancing! (We’d love to be backstage. On second thought, maybe not.)
The program also features the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, Viva Brasil (Brazilian martial arts & dance group), Young Stars (musical theatre group) and Xiao-Nan Wang (a Chinese flute master).
The students have been carefully prepared for the experience, too: their teachers have been working with the WSO’s curriculum-based study guide since the fall, after a workshop presented by the Manitoba Orff Chapter. As well, students have been encouraged to paint and draw works inspired by John Estacio’s Frenergy, and many of these will be projected overhead while the work is being performed by the WSO.
