Youth Concerts

2023 Youth Concerts 

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 11 and 12, 2023, 10:00 a.m. 

Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra
Stephen Alltop, Music Director and Conductor
Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

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“Playing with Style”
program includes:

Birthday Variations, by Matthew Naughtin
Valse (excerpt from Four Novelletten), by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Music comes in many styles from many places.  The 2023 Youth Concerts of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra will explore the wide range of musical styles, from Renaissance to Ragtime and Romantic to Rock n’ Roll.  This fun and interactive program features Matthew Naughtin’s Birthday Variations, a clever piece that uses the familiar tune “Happy Birthday” in lots of different “costumes.” Students can participate in a “Musical Matching Game” by identifying each style they hear played by the orchestra.

Each concert is approximately fifty minutes long, and at least two performances are offered each year.

The educator’s guide contains background information about the musical program, focusing on historical context, composers’ biographies, music education, and the instruments and traditions of the orchestra.

Schools are accepted in the order in which the online applications are received. Schools applying after a specific concert is closed, will be contacted to see if an alternate concert time is possible. When an alternate choice is not workable, the school will be placed on a waiting list.

Please Note:  Homeschooled students and parents are welcome to attend.

Parking Information

PLEASE NOTE: Bus Parking will be available only upon pre-notification with registration.

COST
The fee for the concerts is $2.00 per student. After the concerts, you will receive a billing from our office for the amount due based on the number of students attending as indicated on your registration form application. This fee is used to cover the costs of producing the teaching materials, to make it possible to provide guest performers for the concerts, to help with the payment of the orchestra players, and other costs in producing the concerts.

These concerts are produced by the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra in partnership with the University of Illinois School of Music Office of Public Engagement and the Guild of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. The Youth Concerts have been sponsored in part by the City of Urbana Public Arts Commission, The Robeson Family Benefit Fund, Community Foundation of East Central Illinois, Music Alive/New Music USA, and the Illinois Arts Council.

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