Students Attend Symphony Concerts 'in Droves'

Thousands of third-graders at the theater. Thousands of second- and fifth-graders at the symphony. Only in Montgomery County?

Very possibly. Montgomery County Public Schools is the 17th-largest school system in the country (according to the school system's website), and the cultural opportunities available to students in the area are numerous.

This week, more than 11,500 MCPS fifth-graders are attending concerts by the National Philharmonic at the Music Center at Strathmore. Maestro and former Rockville City Councilman Piotr Gajewski conducts the concerts, held on Oct. 22 through 25. As a school system news release reported, the students will fill the 2,000-seat concert hall "in droves."

The program includes music by Benjamin Britten (Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra), Astor Piazzolla (Oblivion) and Tchaikovsky (1812 Overture).

"With brief explanations of the works supported by images projected above the stage, the concerts reinforce musical concepts students are learning in school. Students learn about the musical selections prior to attending the Strathmore Student Concerts," the news release reported.

These concerts for fifth-graders "represent a $124,000 investment in the community" by the Strathmore Hall Foundation and its sponsors—GEICO, Jordan Kitt’s Music and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation. The foundation and its sponsors also put on a concert for second-grade students (which costs about the same amount of money), the news release stated.

But students aren't just going to the symphony. They're going to the theater, too.

A new collaboration—"Learning Through Theatre"—between the county school system and Imagination Stage (4908 Auburn Ave.) eventually will bring all of the school system's third-graders to the Bethesda theater.

"...[This] great new initiative ... represents one of my visions for the school system: strong partnerships with the nonprofit sector that enrich our children," MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr said at a recent Imagination Stage gala, according to a statement from the theater.

"I value the arts and the way they complement academic learning in the schools. One of the pillars of our new strategic planning framework is social-emotional learning. The arts provide a great way for children to build these essential life skills," Starr said.

Next year, Imagination Stage will begin the program by providing free tickets and transportation for 3,300 third grade students in the county's 27 Title I schools to see Cinderella: the Remix. The theater also will provide a pre-trip video study guide and a post-trip workshop, according to Imagination Stage.

The theater's Oct. 19 gala—"Stories Make the World Go 'Round"—raised $120,000 to start the program. A total of $150,000 is needed to fund the program's first phase, the theater reported.

Don't you wish you were a kid attending a county school these days?