A Zoo Called Earth - Childrens' Concert

Description

As the "outer space" musical notes begin, children are invited to journey along with our narrator, an alien who's visiting his favorite place, A Zoo Called Earth. Accompanied by the talented players of the Fort Bend Symphony, he recounts the stories he's seen over the millions of years he's dropped in on earth, starting with the cooling of the planet, moving through ocean life, the dinosaurs, mammals, and finally, humans. He shares his impressions of the ways that humanity has impacted the environment, and in the end, asks the children to see our "Earth Zoo" in a new way, and to take care of it always. Public radio fans will be familiar with composer Peter Schickele's humor, satire and new ways of looking at classical music. One of his most popular works, A Zoo Called Earth is entertaining for all ages. For the remainder of the concert, FBSO's music director, Dominique Røyem, leads the symphony in an animal-friendly classical music journey. FBSO treats us to Bydlo (Cattle) and The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in Their Shells from Mussorskys Pictures at an Exhibition, a perennial favorite. Les Toreadors, Bizet's overture to Carmen, and Vaughn William's The Wasps? Overture use animal imagery to simulate human behavior. Jimbo's Lullaby is a gentle description of an elephant that came to live in Paris one springtime at the turn of the last century. Animal-themed selections from Delius round out the program, and the concert concludes with a fiery excerpt from Stravinsky's The Firebird. As the only mythical creature on the program, the Firebird illustrates the deep connection all of us have to nature, and the continuing rebirth and regeneration of life. The Agrilife Extension office of Fort Bend is providing hands-on learning experiences for attendees prior to and following the concert. There will be a live chick-hatching station, and Agrilife will do a live demonstration on stage prior to The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. The concert is at 2pm Saturday, April 2, 2016, in the Graeber Auditorium at B.F. Terry High School, 5500 Avenue N, Rosenberg, TX. FBSO has donated 100 tickets to Taylor Ray Elementary and Meyer Elementary. To encourage family attendance, tickets for the FBSO children's concert are at a special low price. Children 12 and under are just $5, and 13 years. Adults are $10. Tickets are available online at www.fbso.org or by calling 281.276.9642.