Link Up to Conclude School Year with Interactive Concerts for Students, 5/20-22

This spring, Link Up-Carnegie Hall's music education program for grades 3 to 5-concludes its 29th school year with thrilling interactive children's concerts in communities across the United States and abroad, including six performances in New York City over three days, May 20-22, in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. More than 15,000 students and teachers from the New York City area will attend and participate in an hour-long performance featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conductor Rossen Milanov, and composer and host Thomas Cabaniss. The program and concerts are presented by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.

In this year's program, The Orchestra Sings, New York area students have explored melody through a range of colorful orchestral repertoire in preparation for the culminating concerts at Carnegie Hall, where they will perform along with the orchestra by singing and playing the recorder or violin. The program includes music by Beethoven, Dvo?ák, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky, Thomas Cabaniss, and Jim Papoulis. The Orchestra Sings is one of three distinctive, year-long Link Up curriculums, along withThe Orchestra Moves, examining musical movement, and The Orchestra Rocks, an exploration of rhythm.

In addition to the students and teachers participating directly with Carnegie Hall in New York City, orchestras across the country and around the world are now taking part in Link Up. Partner orchestras can utilize any of the program materials-including teacher and student guides, concert scripts, and concert visuals-in their own communities, free of charge, to engage local students and teachers in musical learning and exploration. Over the past school year, 60 orchestras and thousands of teachers-from Alaska to Florida, as well as internationally in Canada, Spain, and Japan-have introduced over 250,000 students to the joys of orchestral music through Link Up. Next year, Link Up continues to expand, reaching an estimated 70 orchestras and communities around the world. For a list of partner orchestras, click here.

In addition to New York concerts at Carnegie Hall, upcoming Link Up concerts include those by:

Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (Jacksonville, FL), April 30-May 9
Maryland Symphony Orchestra (Hagerstown, MD), May 7-8
West Michigan Symphony (Muskegon, MI), May 7
Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra (Niceville, FL), May 8-9
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (Fort Worth, TX), May 13-14
Eugene Symphony (Eugene, OR), May 13
Hartford Symphony Orchestra (Hartford, CT), May 13
Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra (Bentonville, AR), May 15-16
Madison Symphony Orchestra (Madison, WI), May 15
St. Louis Symphony (St. Louis, MO), May 15
Lansing Symphony Orchestra (Lansing, MI), May 16
Austin Symphony Orchestra (Austin, TX), May 19-28
San Antonio Symphony (San Antonio, TX), May 20-22
Navarra Symphony Orchestra (Pamplona, Spain), May 21
Snohomish County Music Project (Marysville, WA), May 22 and June 6
Naples Philharmonic / Artis-Naples (Naples, FL), May 24
Vocal and Instrumental Teaching Artists Academy (VITA) (Sacramento, CA), May 27-28
Rogue Valley Symphony (Ashland, OR), June 3

The Weill Music Institute creates visionary programs that embody Carnegie Hall's commitment to music education. With unparalleled access to the world's greatest artists, the Weill Music Institute inspires audiences of all ages, nurtures tomorrow's musical talent, and harnesses the power of music to make a meaningful difference in people's lives. An integral part of Carnegie Hall's concert season, these programs facilitate creative expression, develop musical skills and capacities at all levels, and encourage participants to make lifelong personal connections to music. The Weill Music Institute generates new knowledge through original research and shares a wide range of free online resources with educators and music lovers around the globe. More than 400,000 people each year engage in the Weill Music Institute's programs through national and international partnerships, in New York City schools and community settings, and at Carnegie Hall.

The concerts are Tuesday, May 20 at 10:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., Wednesday, May 21 at 10:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., and Thursday, May 22 at 10:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., and will feature Orchestra of St. Luke's, Rossen Milanov (Conductor), Thomas Cabaniss (Host), Christian Figueroa (Vocalist), Mandy Gonzalez (Vocalist), Shanna Lesniak-Whitney (Vocalist), Soyeong Park (Violin), Chris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band, and Susan Fenichell, Director

Performances feature Thomas Cabniss "Come to Play," Joseph Brackett "Simple Gifts" (arr. Robert Maggio), Thomas Cabaniss "To Make Words Sing," Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 (arr. Thomas Cabaniss; lyrics by Thomas Cabaniss), Dvorak's Largo from Symphony No. 9 in E Minor and Op. 95, "From the New World," Mendelssohn's Allegro molto appassionato from Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, "Bought Me a Cat" (arr. Thomas Cabaniss), Stravinsky's Finale from Firebird Suite (1919 version), and Papoulis's "Oye."