HRO To Host Outreach Concert for 1,000 Cambridge Schoolchildren

It will be a field trip for the ears for as many as 1,000 Cambridge schoolchildren tomorrow. They’re invited to a lunchtime Outreach Concert hosted by the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO) at Sanders Theatre.

The Orchestra will perform a number of entertaining pieces, including “The Procession of the Nobles” from Mlada, Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. In addition to the music, there will be skits and both one-on-one and group presentations by HRO members on their individual instruments.

Both the venue and the music are important for the young people in attendance, according to Emily Wei ’02, the HRO Outreach full-orchestra director. “We’re hoping to introduce them to classical music, and to show them that it can be exciting,” Wei says. “We also hope that after a trip to Sanders Theatre, they will be inspired, and will encourage their parents to take them to future musical events.”

The HRO Outreach Program, headed by Angela Wu ’01, is a three-tiered effort by the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra to support musical education in the community. For several years, Cambridge Public Schools Outreach has brought full-orchestra performances and chamber music groups to 15 local elementary schools. The program is going worldwide this summer, with the formation of South America Outreach, which will work with underprivileged urban youth during a tour of Argentina and Brazil.

According to Wei, the decision to expand HRO Outreach to other parts of the world also prompted the idea to expand the program at home. It’s been such a “great experience [over the years]…for both the kids and the teachers,” Wei says. Eventually, Wei believes, the orchestra may perform two major children’s concerts at Sanders Theatre every year.