RPO Presents Concert for High School Students

Rochester, NY; May 1, 2006 – Thanks to a grant from The Davenport-Hatch Foundation, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra goes back to high school later this month, presenting “Leaders and Followers,” a program that demonstrates the strong parallels between the adolescent search for self-discovery and composers’ search for their individual voices.

Michael Butterman, the RPO’s Principal Conductor for Education and Outreach (The Louise and Henry Epstein Family Chair), leads these 40-minute performances at Gates Chili High School (May 17, 10:00 a.m.), East High School (May 18, 9:30 a.m.), and West Irondequoit High School (May 19, 11:10 a.m.). Mr. Butterman will speak from stage during the concert and examine various composers’ individual musical innovations and how they broke away from existing musical styles. Musical examples will be performed from the fugues of Bach to the passion of Strauss’ Don Juan to the unpredictable and sometimes explosive rhythms of Stravinsky.

“Irondequoit High School is very excited to have this unique opportunity come right into our own school. Not only does the RPO performance coincide beautifully with the study of music history in our music and humanities curricula, but it also provides that one-of-a-kind live communication of art between individuals that cannot be truly duplicated in recordings,” said Patty Welch, instrumental music teacher in the West Irondequoit Schools.

Additional support for these concerts is provided by the Borg Imaging Group.

The RPO performs concerts in local high school venues free of charge for a total 4,500 high school students. These 40-minute concerts are designed to demonstrate how symphonic music can be relevant to today’s teenagers. Themes include interpersonal relationships, multi-culturalism, global concerns, the environment, physics and overcoming personal obstacles.

Celebrating its 83rd season in 2005-06, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s mission is to perform and present a broad range of quality music; attract, entertain and educate audiences with superior musical performances; maintain and build the Orchestra’s national reputation; and enhance the reputation of the Rochester community as a place in which to live, work, play, visit and learn.

RPO performances are made possible in part with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; the State of New York; the County of Monroe; the City of Rochester; and American Airlines, the official airline of the RPO.