ESO welcomes 8,700 students to youth concert program 'Compose Yourself'
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra welcomed 8,700 area elementary and middle school students to the Ainsworth Concerts for Youth in early April.
Students from Elgin, Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village, Naperville, Palatine, Schaumburg, St. Charles, Yorkville and other towns gathered at the Hemmens Cultural Center for a program titled "Compose Yourself!" by Chicago-area composer James M. Stephenson.
It teaches students about the instruments of the orchestra in a program that uses humor to educate. The interactive concert also gives volunteer students the opportunity to compose an impromptu piece using the three elements of music - melody, harmony, and rhythm. Even the musicians get into the act, showing how common household items like bottles and garden hoses can create music. The Ainsworth Concerts for Youth are sponsored by Advocate Sherman Hospital.
"The purpose is to show (the students) that there is something out there other than rap and rock, and teach them the different instruments so that when they hear an orchestra, they can pick out the flute from the violin and the cello," says Sterling (Stu) Ainsworth, after whom the youth concerts are named. Education Manager Wendy Evans notes, "This season, the ESO renamed its Kidz Konzerts and Music in the Middle to Ainsworth Concerts for Youth. Stu Ainsworth has been one of the ESO's greatest champions. He is the education chair of the board of directors and serves as a chair of the education and community outreach committee. He supports the program with great enthusiasm, volunteerism, friendship and generosity."
The ESO has been committed to education since its inception in 1950 and includes education in its mission statement. Every year, thousands of students attend the Ainsworth Concerts for Youth, designed to introduce them to the fundamentals of music. Teachers are given educational materials in advance to help enhance learning. The ESO partners with Elgin Area School District U-46's Lowrie Elementary School, which has a 90-percent poverty rate. Lowrie students receive complimentary tickets to the youth concerts.
Also, free master classes that are open to the public are given at the Gail Borden Public Library, as is the ESO Sunday Family Concert Series. ESO Traveling Ensembles provide educational performances for students at their schools, and have performed in elder care facilities and for other events.
The ESO believes in lifelong learning through music. The ESO Listeners Club is held at the Gail Borden Public Library and expanded to a second location at Greenfields of Geneva. These are led by music historian Jim Kendros who discusses the music and composers featured in upcoming Classic Series concert performances. In addition, "Musically Speaking" preconcert discussions are held before every regular season concert, led by Music Director Andrew Grams, who helps enhance the concert experience by providing background, history and context to the program.
Leading American orchestras, instrumentalists, and wind ensembles around the world have performed the music of Chicago-based composer James M. Stephenson, both to critical acclaim and the delight of audiences. The Boston Herald raved about "straightforward, unabashedly beautiful sounds," suggesting "Stephenson deserves to be heard again and again!" A formal sense of melody and tonality characterize his music, each embedded in a contemporary soundscape. These qualities, coupled with the composer's keen ability to write to each occasion, have led to a steady stream of commissions and ongoing projects.
Most recently, Charles Vernon, a Chicago Symphony bass trombonist, asked Stephenson to write a new concerto, a work to be premiered in their 2018-19 season under the direction of Riccardo Muti. A second bass trombone concerto will receive its orchestral premiere with the St. Louis Symphony and soloist Gerry Pagano in 2017-18. The United States Marine Band known as "The President's Own" commissioned a symphony (the composer's second in this genre) and gave the work its premiere in 2016 at the prestigious Midwest Clinic. "Compose Yourself!," Stephenson's landmark young-audience work, has now been performed more than 300 times since its creation in 2002, engaging children in New Zealand and Canada and across the U.S.
Now at the end of its 66th season, the ESO offers programming unmatched for an entertaining, informative and relaxing cultural experience. The ESO has won Illinois Professional Orchestra of the Year an unprecedented four times - in 1988, 1999, 2005 and 2016. Area student musicians often perform in the lobby before concerts and patrons can purchase gifts at the Elgin Symphony League Boutique.
Flex passes are available for purchase so that you can choose your concerts at a later date based on your own schedule. And if a patron can't make a concert, the ESO offers free exchanges to subscribers and to single ticket buyers for a $5 fee. There is accessible, free parking around the Hemmens Cultural Center and valet service available. Visit ElginSymphony.org.