Classically Yours
Honolulu Symphony plays area schools
by Alan D. McNarie
The Honolulu Symphony returns
to Hawai'i Island May 15-17 for the first time in a dozen years for
an islandwide educational tour.
"This is the first step in the revitalization of our education
program, an effort to reach all the students of the State of Hawai'i."
says symphony director Tom Gulick.
Maestros Stuart Chafetz and Aaron Mahi, and the orchestra's 63 musicians,
will spend most of their stay in the island's grade schools, performing
small ensemble concerts and working with local kids, culminating in
two full-ensemble "educational concert" sessions where children
will be bussed from schools all over the island to the Sangha Hall in
Hilo for a chance to actually play with the full orchestra. The symphony
will also perform a free public concert on May 16 at the same venue.
According to Symphony Education Coordinator Norma Chun, that mass student/symphony
concert is possible because of a Carnegie Hall grant that supplies students
with recorders, sheet music and a curriculum.
"Local teachers took them through this curriculum so that they
learned a number of songs - how to sing them and/or play them on the
recorder," explains Chun.
That way, when the orchestra arrives, the students will already have
a repertoire that they can sing and play along with the professionals.
Twelve small ensembles of symphony musicians will fan out to area schools,
first for concerts at A+ after-school programs, and then for in-school
concerts and/or instruction sessions. All told, they plan to visit 15
schools: Keonepoko, Mt. View, Waiakea-Waena, Na Wai Ola PCS (Kurtistown),
Chiefess Kapi'olani School, Kamehameha Schools, Kea'au Elementary, Hawai'i
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Kahakai Elementary, Innovations PCS, Honoka'a
Elementary, Waimea Elementary, Konawaena and Pahoa Elementary.
The educational concerts will not be open to the public (even parents)
because of limited space. But parents and everyone else are welcome
at the Wednesday public concert. Admission is free, but tickets are
required. As of the Journal's deadline, the distribution points for
the tickets had not been established yet; call 808-524-0815 for locations.
The program for the public concert includes Shostakovich's "Festive
Overture" Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G Minor; Pablo de Sarasate's
"Fantasy on Bizet's Carmen for Violin and Orchestra," with
symphony Concertmaster Iggy Jang as soloist; Camille Saint-Saens' Concerto
for Cello and Orchestra in A Minor, with Principal Cellist Mark Votapek
as soloist; Stanley Meyers' "Cavatina" (Theme from the Deer
Hunter); Brahms' "Two Hungarian Dances" and Charles King's
"Kamehameha Waltz."
To get the money to bring over its 63 musicians and their often-bulky
instruments for the three-day tour, the orchestra got help, not from
the Department of Education, but from the Department of Human Services,
which provided money from its "Temporary assistance for Needy Families"
federal block grant.
"Quality programs such as this music education tour are considered
to positively impact children," explained a symphony press release.
"We used to do this all the time," observes Gulick. Funding
cuts forced his organization to cut back in the 1990s. But, now, he's
vowing a new beginning.
"We intend to be going to all the islands," he says, "and
we intend to be coming back."
Honolulu Symphony in Concert
Hilo Hongwanji Sangha Hall
424 Kilauea Ave., Hilo
Wednesday, May 16, 7 p.m.
Admission: free, but tix required.
Info: Norma Chun 808-524-0815 x226
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