photo credit: Keith Williamson
Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s 2014. It’s crazy how quickly time flies. 2013 was a wonderful year! I married my awesome husband, my new assistant, Ana, began working for me, Winterhalter Music grew by leaps and bounds with new students and teachers, and our students performed beautifully in our May and December recitals. I hope your holidays were wonderful. Our lessons resume today, and I’m so excited to see my students again. It’s definitely going to be another great year.
As you know, I very strongly advocate exposing your children to as much music as possible. While lessons are fabulous, it’s also wonderful to take your kids with you to concerts. Children can see advanced musicians make music, which reminds them what is possible if they keep practicing. There is something so special about hearing live musical performances. It’s magical to watch the musicians create music as you listen and watch. If you do nothing else new for your kids in the new year, I suggest you take them to some concerts. The following are my top picks for children. Many are free, which is even better!
1. The National Philharmonic at Strathmore
The National Philharmonic is Strathmore’s resident orchestra. They have a policy of “ALL Kids, ALL free ALL the time.” Any child from 7-17 can attend a concert free of charge. Call the Strathmore ticket office at (301) 581-5100 or stop by Strathmore to pick up the tickets in person.
I’m personally excited about their concert on March 8th, where they’ll perform Chopin’s first piano concerto (one of my favorites) in addition to selections by Mozart and Moniuszko. Strathmore is a beautiful venue with fantastic acoustics. If you haven’t attended a performance there yet, it will be a huge treat when you do so.
This is a community band in Rockville, MD made up of adults (some with careers in music and some with careers in something else) that love to play their instrument and make music together. I am actually the first oboe player in the group. It’s a lot of fun to play in the band and keeps me practicing my oboe. We put on free concerts on Sunday afternoons at the Rockville Civic Center. Check out the website for more details. We have a jazz concert coming up on February 9th. On April 13th, we perform a children’s concert, where we usually have an instrument petting zoo, so kids can look at and try playing many of the instruments up close and personal. Please come say “hi” if you attend a concert!
3. The Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center
Every single day at 6pm, the Kennedy Center hosts a performance that’s free and open to the public. These performances range from music concerts to theater and dance performances from youth ensembles to professional groups. While I do find getting to the Kennedy Center to be a bit more challenging, it’s certainly worth it to attend a free performance in such a world renown venue.
4. Additional Concerts for Children
When I googled the best concerts for kids in 2014, the following came up. These concerts are even more specifically geared towards children than those mentioned above. I suggest that you pick one that you think your son or daughter would enjoy, purchase tickets, and put it on your calendar. Not only will you help your child gain an even stronger love and appreciation for music, you will also get to spend precious quality time with them.
Now I want to hear from you. What concerts are you looking forward to attending with your kids in 2014? Leave a comment below. Please subscribe to the newsletter and “like us” on Facebook. Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Cassie
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