Outreach Activities

Under the guidance of Teaching Artist and violist, Rachel Shapiro, Concertante is able to offer a tailor-made, fully interactive, and educationally strong musical experience for any age group requested. Themes of the concerts are ever-changing and will depend on the repertoire Concertante is performing at that time. Many performances will help guide students in creating their own compositions with the goal of aiding their exploration and connection to the repertoire at hand. All performances will incorporate student involvement in ways including but not limited to, movement, writing, singing, and playing recorders (if available). Some past examples of outreach concert themes are:

Student created compositions inspired by the sights and sounds of Halloween as a basis for sound comparisons to Mendelssohn Octet, 3^rd movement, which itself was inspired by Walpurgisnacht, the German "Halloween."

An introduction to the concept of motive by exploring how one small seed idea can be expanded into a much larger work. The focal piece was the first movement of Erwin Schulhoff's String Sextet.

Guest composer Kevin Puts, exploring his inspiration for a Concertante commissioned piece. His work, Arcana, in contract to Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht was used to explore the connection between poetry and music.

"Learning to listen deeper" is an umbrella topic explored in various repertoire with specific lenses to guide the listening. Some examples include:

• listening for "hidden moments" in Korngold's String Sextet
• listening for musical textures in Beethoven String Quintets and Brahms G Major Sextet

Details

Performances are typically 45 minutes to an hour in length. In order to ensure the most successful and interactive experience possible, Concertante recommends these performances be limited to 50-60 students. Additionally, whenever possible, we recommend grouping students by grade levels K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. This allows the group to specifically focus the program to the interests and strengths of that age group.

Additional work

In connection with our Harrisburg series, Concertante also has started a series of pre-concert mini concerts aimed at young professionals, entitled, "What to Listen For". These one hour interactive concerts take place the night before the subscription series, and offer a more informal approach to gaining insight into some of the repertoire that will be performed the following night, in the more traditional concert setting.

In addition to their work as performers, the majority of Concertante's musicians are teachers as well. In that vein, we are able to offer traditional one on one masterclasses in either informal or formal settings. These may be offered to string or chamber music students in either a school or private setting.