Community
Red Deer’s Truly Unique Experience for Children
Since 1987, the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra (RDSO) has been committed to community programming, and has taken a strong leadership role in providing relevant programs for all age groups. We have endeavoured to meet the need in our community for enjoyable, educational, and affordable music programs, in order to nurture a new generation of music lovers, provide cultural experiences that develop creative thinking, and encourage a consciousness about their community. Our Choir Kids program has become an important element in the schools’ programming, and many students, teachers and families have been touched by this experience.
Introduced in 1998 by our Music Director Claude Lapalme, Choir Kids is a unique music opportunity which serves elementary school-aged children. Introduced as the first of its kind in Canada, the Choir Kids program allows children’s choirs the opportunity to rehearse and perform two pieces of choice with a professional orchestra. Maestro Lapalme personally orchestrates all the music for these performances. At the conclusion of the concert, all the participant voices join together for a mass choir piece.
The Choir Kids concerts hosts a total of 16-18 choirs from Red Deer and central Alberta, including home schooled children in community choirs. Overall attendance across these often sold out performances exceeds 3200 ticket holders.
Our Choir Kids program targets music education objectives outlined in the provincial curriculum that are challenging for the schools to sufficiently address, and in numerous ways, exceeds the musical opportunities available through in-school music programming. Funding provided in support of Choir Kids goes directly towards making the program happen in the most accessible way. Approximately 60% of revenues necessary for the operation of the Choir Kids program are from corporate and community support. While ticket prices and school registration fees represent 40% of revenues, they are kept to a minimum until a fully funded program is achieved.
Red Deer is one of the only cities of its size, in Canada, to boast a fully professional orchestra; making the Choir Kids experience for children, truly unique!
https://www.rdso.ca/
The support of donors and sponsors ensures the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra can create and inspire the next generation of musicians. In particular, we provide professional level performance opportunities for emerging artists, such as Harbour Lehocky, to facilitate their development as musicians.’
Harbour will be making her debut performance with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra at the June 8th ‘Season Finale’ concert in recognition of being a 2018 winner of the Red Deer Festival of the Performing Arts.
Harbour started violin at the age of six, almost 9 years ago, and continues to ask her parents why they didn’t get her started with lessons earlier! She is the concertmaster for the Rosedale Valley Strings Orchestra, conducted by Naomi Delafield, and a member of the Burman University Symphony Orchestra with whom she toured Western Canada in 2018 and California earlier this year. Harbour attended the Orford Musique Academy in Quebec in the summer of 2018, funded by the Lacombe Endowment Grant and will attend several international camps and competitions as well as perform a solo piece with a youth orchestra in Austria this summer.
This busy young musician is also a provincial medals recipient in swimming, holds two provincial records in breaststroke, and is a 2016 Alberta Summer Games bronze medal recipient in triathlon.
Join the audience (tickets remain available) and help the RDSO welcome Harbour Lehocky to the stage!
https://www.rdso.ca/
From the City of Red Deer
Red Deer Public Market opens Saturday, May 18 at Servus Arena
may, 2019
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