News From the Department
North Carolina Symphony Launches Its First-Ever Traveling Instrument
Zoo With Help Of Fidelity Investments
Contact:
For more information
contact Jeannie Mellinger at 919-733-2750, ext. 225.
The North Carolina Symphony, in partnership with Fidelity Investments, will launch a traveling Instrument Zoo at R.N. Harris Elementary School in Durham on Friday, November 17 at 9:30am.
The program seeks to spark an early interest in music and musicianship by providing elementary school students with the opportunity to hear instruments being played as well as the opportunity to try them out. It has been noted that students who are involved in music do better in academic subjects than their peers who are not.
Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn will be on hand to present the new venture to students and faculty. “We’re thrilled by this opportunity,” says Llewellyn. “We all agree how important it is to introduce children to music early on. Because of Fidelity’s support of this program, students will see and hear many different instruments being played and will be able to experiment with playing themselves.”
Along with Llewellyn, North Carolina Symphony musicians Mary Boone, flute; Jimmy Gilmore, principal clarinet; Rachel Niketopoulos, horn; and Rick Motylinski, principal percussion will demonstrate their instruments and assist the children with trying them out. Included in the Instrument Zoo will be flutes, clarinets, trumpet, mini and full-size trombones and a horn, purchased for the program by Fidelity Investments. Volunteers from Fidelity and Raleigh Fine Arts will be on hand to assist the musicians.
The event will take place in R.N. Harris’s gymnatorium for approximately 40 4 th and 5 th grade students. The Instrument Zoo will also be available for children before Young People’s concerts at Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.
“As a growing part of the community, Fidelity is investing in opportunities to inspire future generations. We are thrilled to partner with the North Carolina Symphony to introduce young people to the joys of music at an early age,” said Don Haile, SVP and site General Manager, Fidelity Investments.
Symphony president and CEO David Chambless Worters is also looking forward to the inauguration of the Instrument Zoo. “The North Carolina Symphony has a long-established mission of bringing concerts to children throughout the state,” says Worters. “It is especially appropriate during our 75 th anniversary season that we initiate a program that brings instruments, too. We’re so pleased that Fidelity’s commitment to education meshes so well with our own and we are grateful to have their support.”
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