BY ALISON PARIS
The National Capital Orchestra, directed by Leonard Weiss, has enjoyed entertaining young audiences for years. And they’ve chosen to wrap up 2018 with a creative and diverse program in concert Melodies for Kids.
This show promises an array of works by Romantic and modern composers, including Canberra’s own Sally Greenaway, with an intertwined original story narrated by Charles Hudson.
We spoke to Leonard about the upcoming show, and why he chose to put on such a great show for young minds.
The National Capital Orchestra has seen a great deal of success in previous years with its child-friendly concerts. What motivates you to prioritise sharing music with children?
I’m passionate about family concerts for a few reasons. As many of our NCO members have families and kids, performances such as Melodies for Kids are a great way for us to engage with our own families and our local community.
One of the many elements that I love about music is that everyone has to start with the basics. At some point in our lives, we all went to concerts like this and grew up listening to a selection of ‘the classics’ – melodies which are now ingrained in our minds, and which the majority of us could sing offhand. We have to introduce young audiences to these brilliant pieces, and guide them through a musical journey to show how beautiful and how much fun creating and performing music can be.
Equally, the journey of every musician starts from scratch. If even one of our audience members is motivated to ask their parents about learning an instrument after hearing this concert, then that could mean the world of difference to them as they grow up – maybe going on to learn for 10+ years, or embark on a future musical career; you never know!
As the NCO is made up of passionate musicians, it is really heart-warming to think that some of the audience members will be changed from hearing our music, particularly for a performance with young audiences.
You will be performing a range of works from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter – the latter performed with an actual typewriter on stage! What was your reasoning behind this repertoire?
I had a truly wonderful time choosing this repertoire. We aimed for a combination of music that is relevant to Canberran audiences, melodically approachable, and typically emotionally driven mid-Romantic works.
The program begins with The Blue Mountains, a superb piece by Canberran Sally Greenaway, which was given its world premiere by the NCO in 2014 – actually, in my first full concert with the orchestra, so you could say that I am a bit sentimental.
Then, for some of the classics, who doesn’t have a good time listening to Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker? Although these are pieces that I love, this is also a fantastic showcase of so many aspects of excellent compositional skill, with plenty of good material for the orchestra to work on.
Then, we have a few pieces from Sibelius’ Pelléas and Mélisande; and another somewhat obscure piece from Grieg’s Sigurd Jorsalfar, to offset his more well-known music from Peer Gynt. These were all written as incidental music, so their purpose for existing is to be included in a story, which makes them an easy choice for a new narrative.
It’s healthy for us to look at a few less familiar pieces – and for audiences to enjoy them – but of course, we have also included other pieces like The Typewriter, which are just hilariously enjoyable to perform.
Melodies for Kids has an original story, narrated by Charles Hudson, woven through this incredible range of music. What was it like collaborating with a narrator in this way?
I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Charles on a few occasions, both theatrical and musical (he is an excellent tenor; so this has been a very comfortable experience – perhaps even a natural progression from previous concerts where we have told other pre-existing stories.
For this concert, Charles created the story with Elisabeth Rose, an acclaimed author who is luckily a member of our woodwind section. I think that this gives the performance a seamless narrative.
In terms of my process, it has been quite straight-forward: we had a few months to evaluate the emotional character of each piece and decide on a concert order. And now, it is largely up to me to follow the script and make sure that our music-to-dialogue segues work smoothly.
I am very thankful to Charles and Elisabeth, who made the art of creating a brand new work seem so easy!
What do you believe is the importance of introducing orchestral music to young minds?
For me, it is a balance of young minds being aware of music existing for enjoyment in their listening and day-to-day experiences, and also potentially building their interest in learning an instrument. It is invaluable to get young people up close to an orchestra, and for them to see the orchestra in a different light.
We want our audiences to grow up and enjoy orchestral concerts in 20 or 40 years’ time!
What do you hope children will take away from this experience?
More than anything, I hope that families will have an enjoyable afternoon experiencing live music, and seeing how the different instruments in the orchestra work together to create a truly magical sound.
Perhaps these young minds will grow up listening to more orchestral music, and maintaining the relevance of orchestral music into the future. And if they are captivated and motivated to learn an instrument, that would be a very happy bonus!
See Leonard Weiss lead the National Capital Orchestra in Melodies for Kids, with narrator Charles Hudson, 1pm and 3pm November 25, John Lingard Hall, Canberra Grammar School.
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