NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

Due to the pandemic, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra’s annual Youth Concert for students in grades three through five was not able to proceed “as usual.”

However, the RSO wanted to find a way to offer the concert because it is a  valuable experience for the students in the region to have. The RSO partnered with the NIU School of Music and Benjamin Firer, visiting professor of music and director of the NIU Philharmonic Orchestra to produce a Virtual Youth Concert.

Recorded just last week, RSO musicians served as principals and performed side-by-side with our students in the Philharmonic. The concert featured Carnegie Hall’s Link Up curriculum The Orchestra Sings. Teachers and students have been using Carnegie Hall’s curriculum for this program during the school year to learn how melodies can make the orchestra “sing.”

As bringing elementary school students to a performance this spring wasn’t an option, the RSO shared this interactive recorded concert was shared with registered teachers across the region.

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