The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts continues to roll out events. At mid-month it’s featuring Youth Orchestras of San Antonio. Here’s YOSA’s Music Director Troy Peters with the program's layout.
“A performance of "Peter and the Wolf," featuring YOSA and the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio. And we’ll surround that beloved family classic with a bunch of music exploring the cultural heritage of San Antonio,” he said.
Peters explained the reason for the wide program schedule in addition to "Peter and the Wolf."
“'Peter and the Wolf' is about a 30-minute story with music, so to fill out and create an hour-long program we’ve accompanied it with several shorter pieces,” he said.
I asked him who was narrating the "Peter and the Wolf" segment.
“Our narrator for 'Peter and the Wolf' is David Connelly, who’s an actor from Attic Rep," Peters said. "Attic Rep is another one of the resident companies of the Tobin Center.”
I also spoke to Anne Schelleng, who is executive director of the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio.
“One of the most important works we’re presenting is the world premiere of a new work entitled 'The Homesteaders,' " Schelleng said. "The text for 'The Homesteaders' was written by 2013 Poet Laureate of Texas Rosemary Catacalos, a longtime resident of San Antonio."
It being a brand new piece, these kids are creating performance precedent.
“The challenge is to dive into a new work and explore it without being able to go onto YouTube and listen to someone else perform it,” Schelleng said.
The wide performance variety features yet another interesting layer.
“We’ll be joined by some dancers from Ballet San Antonio who will be bringing the tango to life onstage for us,” Schelleng said.
I asked Peters how the young musicians relate to "Peter and the Wolf."
"It’s so familiar, they all grew up with it. Prokofiev was a composer who demanded a lot of the orchestra; he knew it well," said Peters. "Throughout the story, different instruments of the orchestra represent different animals in the story. And so the duck, or the cat or the bird have a lot of notes to learn.”
- For more on the YOSA/Children’s Chorus performance visit: www.tobincenter.org
