About
Copeland’s Appalachian Spring and Elizabeth Raum’s Violin Concerto
Spend a morning with us at FirstOntario Concert Hall and watch the HPO in rehearsal. This is a fantastic opportunity to give your students a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of professional orchestral life.
Enter through our stage door, and get a glimpse of backstage before joining us in a conference room to learn about what you are about to hear. Composer-in-Residence, Abigail Richardson-Schulte introduces students to the composers and pieces planned for the day’s rehearsal.
After learning about the pieces, schools are escorted to the first balcony where they have the opportunity to watch a rehearsal in progress from the best vantage point in the house. We have a microphone set up so that students hear the feedback the conductor is giving to the orchestra, and get an opportunity to see first-hand how that feedback then sounds in the orchestra.
Our rehearsal experiences are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We can accommodate 2 schools at a maximum of 50 students per school.
Educational Connections to this program:
Appalachian Spring, originally a ballet, is a wonderful vehicle to discuss the purpose of music and how that changes over time. It is also a chance to highlight Copeland as a populist American composer of the 20th Century. Finally, teachers have a wealth of melodic material with folk music origins, and can use this piece to teach the rich tradition of using folk music in orchestral works.
The Raum violin concerto is a wonderful opportunity to introduce students to the concerto form. It is also a great vehicle to discuss performance practice, as well as music career paths (both as a living composer and soloist). Finally, having a soloist on the program often leads students to reflect and respond about themselves as performers.
Contact Music Education Manager Megan Benjafield at mbenjafield@hpo.org to reserve your rehearsal.
Please note: Our bookings are based on the planned rehearsal schedule. Students may not see all repertoire being rehearsed, and the repertoire is subject to change without notice.