Trending
WHEELING -- The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra will deliver the second Masterworks concert of the season tonight, March 8, celebrating music in our schools with Music at Play.
The symphony, under the direction of maestro John Devlin, will welcome back composer and performer Clarice Assad, who performed with the WSO during Forces of Nature this past March. Assad will perform one of her new compositions alongside the WSO and guest artists, Grammy award-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion.
Titled "Play," this piece -- co-commissioned by the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra -- will feature children's toys as instruments, from rubber chickens to various noisemakers. It is inspired in large part by Clarice's two small children. Assad will provide narration to the piece while Third Coast Percussion performs.
Tonight's concert also will include performances of "Scheherazade" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and "Ballade in A Minor" by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
In celebration of Music In Our Schools Month, the WSO is providing free tickets to a number of local music educators and their students, thanks in part to funding from the Wheeling Heritage Grant Program.
During the performance, the new Wheeling Symphony Orchestra Music Educator Excellence Award will be presented. Designed to honor an Ohio Valley music educator who has shown outstanding commitment to developing the musical community in Wheeling and beyond, this year's recipient is Wheeling Park High School strings teacher Ben Podolski.
"This concert is a true celebration of the importance of music education in our schools," said WSO Executive Director Sonja Thoms. "There isn't a musician in the orchestra who hasn't been greatly influenced by a music educator, and in order to keep organizations like the WSO alive, we must continue to support and encourage music educators and students to continue the vitally important work they do. By offering affordable student tickets and creating the Music Educator Excellence Award, we hope to do just that."
The Capitol Series is presented by WesBanco, with additional support provided by Dennis and Mary Hanley and Daniel Young, CFP.
Student concert tickets for this performance were partially funded by the Wheeling Heritage Partnership Grant Program.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. For additional information, call the box office at 304-232-6191 or visit www.wheelingsymphony.com.