Announcing the Third Annual Symphony PRO-AM!

2012 PRO-AM with Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing

Saturday, May 25, 2013
Dust off that instrument case, put some rosin on your bow, get a new box of reeds, and oil those valves! It’s time to start practicing again for the 2013 Symphony PRO-AM. Submit your application now for an eye-opening opportunity to rehearse and perform with the Symphony and Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing on Saturday, May 25, 2013. The day’s events will take place at Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium and will feature the following repertoire:

Gustav Holst selections from The Planets

Tentative schedule for Sat., May 25:
10:00 am Full-Orchestra Rehearsal
12:00 pm Lunch (to be provided)
12:45 pm Sectionals coached by Symphony musicians
1:30 pm Full-Orchestra Rehearsal
2:30 pm Break
3:00 pm PRO-AM Performance (FREE admission)

TO APPLY:
♪ Fill out the online application form. Closed as of April 22, 2013.
♪ Participants must be age 22 or older, able to read music and play a standard orchestral instrument.
♪ The deadline for registration will be Monday, April 22, 2013 at 5:00 pm.
♪ All applicants will be informed of their status on or before April 26, 2013 via email.
♪ Confirmed participants will be required to pay a non-refundable registration fee to the San Antonio Symphony in the amount of $35 and due at the time confirmation.
♪ Further details will be sent to selected participants in the confirmation message.

Click here for the online application from

Please direct all inquiries to:

Jeremy Brimhall
Director of Education and Community Engagement
(210) 554-1006
brimhallj@sasymphony.org

Selected photos from the 2012 Symphony PRO-AM:

Enjoy a taste of the vivid sounds and flavors of Spain, from Aragon in the north to Andalucía in the south.

As a one-time world superpower, the kingdoms of Spain spread their rich culture and musical heritage throughout the known world … and beyond! This is one program that won’t disappoint, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol and the music of Albéniz, Granados, Lecuona, and Bizet. Don’t forget to have your students participate in our annual Paint to Music Contest; the winning artwork will be showcased as the Symphony performs!

Young People’s Concert: ¡Viva España!
May 7, 8 & 9, 2013
9:45 am and 11:10 am
Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium
Akiko Fujimoto, conductor

Click here to order tickets for this concert!

Click here to download the Teacher’s Guide for this program, coming soon!

Click here to order a CD of the selections to be performed at this concert

In October of 1853, the influential composer and music critic Robert Schumann wrote a famous article about a young man he had just met.

In this article titled “New Paths,” Schumann proclaimed this unknown youth as a musical prodigy with far-ranging abilities, heaping many praises on his never-heard-before compositions and even calling him a “chosen one!” But just what would a modest 20-year-old composing in the wake of Beethoven be able to achieve for the art of music? Join us as we find out!

Young People’s Concert: “New Paths” and Great Expectations
February 27 & 28, 2013
9:45 am and 11:10 am
Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium
Akiko Fujimoto, conductor

Click here to order tickets to this concert!

Click here to download the Teacher’s Guide for this program, coming soon!

Click here to order a CD of the selections to be performed at this concert

alamo stadium parking lots

Haydn and Mozart, the old master and the young genius — two colossal figures of the Classical period … and two great symphonies.

Over a number of years, these two composers developed an unusually close relationship, seemingly free from competition. Mozart may have learned a great deal from the elder Haydn, to whom Mozart dedicated a number of works and whom we now know today as the “Father of the Symphony.” But despite being many years his senior, Haydn would quickly come to recognize Mozart as the “greatest composer known” and even wrote that “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.” Don’t miss this rare glimpse at the unique friendship shared by two masters and a comprehensive look at what makes their symphonies so great – featuring an appearance by Papa Haydn himself! – played by special guest Damian Gillen of The Company Theatre.

Young People’s Concert: Amadeus and Papa Haydn
January 15 & 16, 2013
9:45 am and 11:10 am
Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium

January 17, 2013
1:15 pm and 2:15 pm
A.C. Jones High School Auditorium, Beeville, TX

Akiko Fujimoto, conductor
Damian Gillen, actor

Click here to order tickets to this concert!

Click here to download the Teacher’s Guide for this program, coming soon!

Click here to order a CD of the selections to be performed at this concert

When the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák first set foot in America in 1892, he brought with him a tremendous wealth of old world musical tradition, handed down by such figures as Beethoven and Brahms.

But Dvořák would quickly fall in love with the simple folk tunes of the African American spirituals and Native American songs. “These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil,” he was once quoted to have said, “They are the folk songs of America, and your composers must turn to them.” These raw melodies would inspire Dvořák to create one of the most renowned works of Western music, his famous Symphony “from the New World.” Join the San Antonio Symphony as we delve into the mind of a master composer and his masterpiece.

Young People’s Concert: Dvořák in the New World
October 31 & November 1, 2012
9:45 am and 11:10 am
Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium
Yaniv Dinur, conductor

Click here to order tickets for this concert!

Click here to download the Teacher’s Guide for this program

Click here to order a CD of the selections to be performed at this concert

musicians present to kids at Barnes & Noble

As part of our innovative Community Engagement program, Symphony musicians visit over 40 area schools every season, including pre-schools, kindergartens, elementary, middle, high schools, colleges/universities and even schools for retired people. The visits cover a wide variety of activities, including chamber music performances, sectionals and coaching with band and orchestra students, master classes, presentations, and demonstrations. Symphony musicians also perform regularly in nursing homes, community centers, and hospitals.

David Mollenauer and David Delambre conduct string sectionals at Churchill High School (video link)

Brahms on Tour

As a lead up to the highly-anticipated 2013 Brahms Festival, the Symphony will perform several free education concerts for area high schools students at their place of learning and during the school day. Concerts will feature the music of Brahms and will provide direct access for students within their own environment to an excellent performance of classical music featuring the city’s premier performing arts organization.

Brahms on Tour partner locations and performance dates:
11/27/12 – Holmes High School
11/28/12 – Saint Mary’s Hall
12/18/12 – Highlands High School
1/29/13 – Taft High School
3/5/13 – TMI Epsicopal School of Texas
3/19/13 – Roosevelt High School

2011-2012 Community Engagement Activities:

October 17, 2011 – violinist Mary Ellen Goree conducts a violin sectional at O’Connor High School.
October 7, 2011 – violist Terry Stolow performs at the Eleanor Kolitz Academy.
October 10, 2011 – oboist Mark Ackerman appears on KABB FOX 29 TV with Symphony CEO & President Jack Fishman for a segment about an upcoming performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
October 11, 2011 – cellist Morgen Johnson performs for a convention of real estate professionals.
October 11, 2011 – bassist Zlatan Redzic gives a bass master class at Health Careers High School.
October 17, 2011 – violist Wanda Lydon visits Highlands High School for a viola sectional.
October 18, 2011 – the San Antonio Symphony performs a free concert at the Jewish Community Center.
October 18, 2011 – violinist Andrew Small visits Highlands High School for a violin sectional.
October 18, 2011 – Matthew Zerweck, Sayaka Okada, Emily Freudigman and Ken Freudigman perform as a string quartet at the San Antonio West Chamber of Commerce Doctoral Achievement Awards Gala.
October 25, 2011 – violinist Amy Venticinque visits Highlands High School for a violin sectional.
October 26, 2011 – violinist Mary Ellen Goree conducts a violin sectional at Lee High School.
October 20, 2011 – bass trombonist Ilan Morgenstern teaches beginning brass classes at Lopez Middle School.
October 21, 2011 – violinist Andrew Small gives a violin sectional at Highlands High School.
October 22, 2011 – trumpeter John Carroll teaches a free trumpet master class at Alamo Music Center.
October 23, 2011 – Yuaan-Xiong Lu, Scott Strong, Amy Venticinque and Anastasia Storer offer a free Instrument Petting Zoo for children at the Tuesday Musical Club during the Brackenridge Park Family Jazz Festival.
October 24, 2011 – violinist Bassam Nashawati visits Wagner High School for a violin sectional.
October 25, 2011 – violist Lauren Magnus and cellist David Mollenauer visit Rayburn Middle School for sectionals.
October 25, 2011 – violinist Andrew Small visits Whittier Middle School for a group violin lesson.
October 25, 2011 – violist Wanda Lydon gives a viola sectional at Wagner High School.
October 25, 2011 – violist Allyson Dawkins appears on KABB FOX 29 TV with Symphony CEO and President Jack Fishman to highlight and upcoming performance.
October 25, 2011 – Matthew Zerweck, Sayaka Okada, Emily Freudigman and Ken Freudigman perform as a string quartet with members of Ballet San Antonio in a collaboration called Beethoven & Ballet at the Army Residence Community.

This page is under construction. Please check back soon for more information.

Sunday, October 28, 2012; 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm @ Alamo Heights High School Auditorium. Family Concert: Halloween Spooktacular!

Sunday, December 23, 2012; 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm @ Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium (upper lobby). Family Concert: Holiday Magic!

Sunday, January 27, 2013; 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm @ Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium (upper lobby). Family Concert: Inside Symphony – The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Sunday, May 19, 2013; 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm @ Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium (upper lobby). Family concert: Columbus & his Musical Voyages

Special Thanks to Terra Nova Violins for providing string instruments for use at our Instrument Petting Zoos!

The San Antonio Symphony has been working to bring music educational programs to the schoolchildren of Bexar County for 70 years. One important reason that the Symphony reaches out to almost 40,000 students annually is because of the statistics collected proving a correlation between music instruction and increased academic ability. According to Americans for the Arts, students who participate in the arts for at least three hours a week for one year are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement. The Texas Music Educators Association has shown that students of the arts continue to outperform their non-arts peers on the SAT, proving a correlation between music and academics. See more music education facts and statistics!

conductor-violinist Cho-Liang Lin will teach the 2013 RHR String Master Class, photo by Paul Body

The Symphony’s 2012-2013 educational programs include:

Young People’s Concert Series

Family Concert Series

Open Rehearsals for Students

Instrument Petting Zoo

Russell Hill Rogers String Master Class

Future Stars Competition

Paint to Music Contest

Discover Brahms

Symphony PRO-AM

Symphony 101

One Dollar Student Group Discount Program

Student Nutcracker Performance – November 29, 2012

Program notes and video interviews

 
Music education programs are facing cutbacks or outright elimination from public schools in Texas. These excisions from schools’ curricula come at a cost, since studies have shown that involvement in music programs has the lasting effect of improving overall academic achievement. Inspiring students to participate in music programs is an important step to lower San Antonio schools’ approximately 30% attrition rate. According to the San Antonio Independent School District, 92% of San Antonio public school students are economically disadvantaged, therefore keeping music programs affordable is essential. To truly stimulate students to join music programs, they need access to programs that provide them with meaningful interactions with successful musicians and exciting concerts.

As San Antonio and Bexar County’s only symphony orchestra, we address this problem by providing educational and interactive programs that introduce children to the power and joy of live orchestral music. These educational programs get students excited about participating in music programs throughout their academic and professional careers. In order to succeed in our goal, we need support from San Antonio foundations, corporations, and individuals to present the finest music to our area school children from pre-school through college.

Our goal is to improve the quality of life for all students, families, and the community through the power of live orchestral music. This season’s objective is for 40,000 students from approximately 300 public, private and home schools in the San Antonio metro area and surrounding counties to attend our many interactive and educational events. We want every child and family member to receive a deeper appreciation and understanding of music and the benefit it can have in their lives.

One major part of the Symphony’s education program is our award-winning Young People’s Concert Series. Every year, the Symphony explores the unique and intriguing relationships that classical music has with other disciplines through our YPC Series. Geared towards third, fourth, and fifth grade students, YPC concerts engage students with carefully planned and highly-educational programs of music and lecture. The interdisciplinary connection of our 2011-2012 YPC series was Reading. Through the series,Adventures of Reading in Music!, we will explored a wide-variety of topics related to reading, such as music inspired by literature and relationships between writing forms and styles and their musical counterparts. We are excited to announce the co-curricular theme for the 2012-2013 YPC Series: History and Geography. This year we will examine music from different lands and cultures and the influence it has had in history across borders and oceans. Click here for YPC program information.

We also have a fun-filled Family Series of four concerts on Sundays. Family Concerts are for children and adults of all ages. Each concert program is preceded by interactive pre-concert activities for kids, such as Meet the Maestro, musical crafts and games, and our ever-popular Instrument Petting Zoo. The Symphony mascot, Count Bassie, has also been known to make appearances at Family Concerts.

Each year, the San Antonio Symphony League sponsors a Paint-to-Music Contest for any pre-kindergarten through sixth grade students attending at least one YPC concert in the season. The purpose of the contest is to encourage children to explore the language of music and the role that classical music can play in enhancing creative expression through art. Last year, over 40 schools and over 1500 students participated in Paint-to-Music. In a culminating showcase of two art forms, selections from the winning entries are projected above the orchestra during the corresponding music selections at the last YPC and Family Concert of the year.

As part of our innovative Community Engagement Program, Symphony musicians regularly visit schools throughout Bexar County to perform and demonstrate for students as well as to work with band and orchestra members through sectionals, master classes, lessons, and coachings. Most recently, the Symphony has focused its outreach program on select high schools through our Brahms on Tour program. Through the program, the Symphony will perform several free educational concerts featuring the music at Brahms at area high schools for students during the school day, leading up to the highly-anticipated Brahms Festival in February 2013.

The Symphony also offers several open rehearsals each season for middle, high school and college students. Students are able to witness how a professional orchestra rehearses while being exposed to masterpieces of classical music. They are also given a unique opportunity to interact with our new Music Director, Sebastian Lang-Lessing. Admission is free for students and teachers alike. For more information, call Jeremy Brimhall, Director of Education (210) 554-1006.

Each season, a guest artist from the Symphony’s Masterclassics Series teaches an annual Russell Hill Rogers String Master Class for advanced high school string players. This year the master class will be taught by renowned violinist and conductor, Cho-Liang Lin.

The Symphony’s Assistant Conductor, Akiko Fujimoto, gives a Concert Preview prior to all 28 Classics Series concerts. Concert Previews offer a unique opportunity for concert-goers to ask questions and learn detailed information about the program in advance. Concert Previews start at 7 pm. Symphony musicians have also recently started offering the program Ask a Musician in which anyone attending a Classics concerts can approach musicians during intermission to ask questions about anything related to the music or being a musician.

Other educational programs offered by the Symphony include our annual Future Stars Competition for middle and high school instrumental students. Winners receive scholarship awards from the Symphony League, and the grand prize winner performs with the Symphony on a Family Concert program. The Symphony PRO-AM gives adult amateurs an opportunity to rehearse and perform side-by-side with Symphony professionals.

Our Student Group Discount Program allows students entry into any Friday and select Saturday Classics performances for only $1! One chaperone for every 20 students also receives a $1 ticket. Individual student tickets to all 28 Classics and 12 Pops subscription concerts are only $8! This offer is also available to college students with a student ID.

In addition to our many educational programs, several Symphony guest artists make visits to schools every year to talk to students about music. Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing is also actively involved with schools, as well as programs aimed at adults.

Symphony musicians and small ensembles also visit nursing homes, hospitals and other locations to perform and talk to those who can not attend our concerts. One of the most powerful ways the Symphony influences music education in our community is by bringing our talented musicians to San Antonio. Many of our musicians teach privately, coach in area middle and elementary schools and serve on the faculty of local colleges. The Symphony musicians as a whole form one of the cornerstones of the music education system in San Antonio.

pre-concert activities and Instrument Petting Zoo begin at 1:30 pm
Akiko Fujimoto, conductor
Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium

Enjoy vivid music inspired by Spain’s rich culture as we follow Columbus on his epic voyage to the New World. Come witness the unforgettable culmination of the Symphony’s popular Paint to Music Contest featuring a special showcase of children’s visual artwork during a performance of the very works that inspired them! This program will also feature a collaboration with the Grand Prize Winner of the Symphony’s annual Future Stars Competition, oboist Katarina Chavez of Johnson High School.

Single Tickets: adults $16 and children $8. Call (210) 554-1010 to order, order online, or purchase at the box office on performance day

The Paint to Music Contest and the Future Stars Competition are made possible by the San Antonio Symphony League.

The Family Series is sponsored by H-E-B.

Pre-concert activities and Instrument Petting Zoo begin at 1:30pm
Stefan Sanders, conductor
Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium

As part of its 2012-2013 Family Concert subscription series, the San Antonio Symphony will be presenting a program entitled INSIDE SYMPHONY – The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra on Sunday, January 27, at Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium.  This performance will utilize sports concepts, like teamwork, practice, and cooperation to explore how an orchestra, or your favorite professional sports team, works together to perform at the highest level.  The concert will feature musical selections including Shostakovich’s Festive Overture and Waldteufel’s The Skaters Waltz and will culminate in a performance of Britten’s famous The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with the world-premiere of revised, sports-themed, narration.

Patrons are encouraged to wear their favorite sportswear, sports uniform or team jersey. 

Single Tickets: adults $16 and children under 18 only $8.

Call (210) 554-1010 to order, order online, or purchase at the Laurie Auditorium Box Office.  For groups of 10 or more, please call Karen Cramer at (210) 554-1066.

Due to illness, Akiko Fujimoto, Assistant Conductor of the San Antonio Symphony, will not be available.  Stefan Sanders, Assistant Conductor for the Austin Symphony Orchestra will be conducting the performance on Sunday.