A Family for Baby Grand orKIDStra Concert and CD Launch Party!
ROCHESTER, NY – Principal Conductor for Education and Outreach Michael Butterman (The Louise and Henry Epstein Family Chair) leads the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in the final orKIDStra concert of the season: A Family for Baby Grand featuring narrator Jennifer Carsillo on Sunday, May 22 at 2:00 p.m. in the Performance Hall at Hochstein.
This special day also marks the release of the RPO’s newest children’s CD! In addition to A Family for Baby Grand, this album includes Michael Butterman and the RPO performing The Story of Babar by Francis Poulenc, with acclaimed actor John Lithgow as narrator. Both pieces were recorded in-studio for the disc. Only A Family for Baby Grand is performed during this orKIDStra concert. Visit www.youtube.com/superrpo to view a video highlighting A Family for Baby Grand. The audience is invited to join us after the concert for the CD release party!
Jennifer Carsillo narrates this story of a baby grand piano who ventures out into the world to join an orchestra. With music by Brad Ross and story by Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Baby Grand introduces the audience to the unique sounds of various instruments and demonstrates what these instruments sound like when played together. Through the decades, Babar has become one of the most well-loved children’s characters of all time, but was not musically adapted until 1945 when Francis Poulenc turned his improvisations based on the story into a melodrama for piano and narrator. In 1962, Poulenc’s friend Jean Francaix completed a full orchestral version that the RPO used in this recording.
To purchase tickets ($10 and $15) to this or other RPO events, visit the Eastman Theatre Box Office, call 454.2100, go online to www.rpo.org, or visit area Wegmans locations. The CD ($20) can be purchased in the Eastman Theatre Shop or at the CD launch party on May 22.
Performance Hall at Hochstein
Pre-concert activities, which start one hour before the performance, include coloring pages, color and assemble puzzles for the children to take home, and interactions with musicians while the kids learn about various instruments.
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Butterman, conductor
Jennifer Carsillo, narrator
