New York Philharmonic Issues Next Release in YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS PLAY! Focus on DVOŘÁK’S SYMPHONY NO. 9, FROM THE NEW WORLD, As Part of THE NEW WORLD INITIATIVE Series of Young People’s Concerts Available for ON-DEMAND STREAMING Enhanced by INTERACTIVE LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES
The New York Philharmonic has issued the next release in its online learning platform, Young People’s Concerts Play!, with a Young People’s Concert (YPC) focusing on Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World. Young People’s Concerts Play!makes the Philharmonic’s signature Young People’s Concerts, which introduce young audiences to musical topics through repertoire of all periods, available for on-demand streaming enhanced by innovative interactive lessons for classrooms (grades 3–6). The release is available free of charge at nyphil.org/ypcplay.
This release is part of The New World Initiative (NWI), the Philharmonic’s season-long, citywide project revolving around Dvořák’s New World Symphony and its theme of “home” through performances, community outreach, and education projects on the occasion of the Philharmonic’s 175th anniversary season. Other NWI education activities included the Young Peoples Concerts for Schools in January 2017, which presented Dvořák’s New World Symphony in an interactive format alongside works inspired by it created by Very Young Composers of the New York Philharmonic (in grades 6–9); an interdisciplinary NWI-based curriculum exploring the symphony’s African American and Native American musical influences and its theme of “home,” for grades 3–12; and a partnership with the New York City Department of education to help social studies and music teachers create interdisciplinary curricula.
The interactive features of Young People’s Concerts Play! include composition games designed by New York University’s MusEDLab (musedlab.org) led by Alex Ruthmann, NYU Steinhardt Professor of Music Education & Music Technology; and videos featuring New York Philharmonic Teaching Artists designed to engage classrooms in learning about folk and classical music, singing many different themes from the symphony, and exploring how Dvořák develops and transforms these themes.
As part of an initiative to bring these concerts to more New York City classrooms, in particular those in underserved neighborhoods, Philharmonic Teaching Artists continue to visit such schools to demonstrate the platform in-person. Feedback from teachers and students informs the development of future Young Peoples Concerts Play! releases.
The Young People’s Concerts Play! learning platform was created by New York Philharmonic Teaching Artists working with staff from the Center for Children and Technology (CCT, part of the nonprofit Education Development Center) and Philharmonic staff to translate their in-school workshops for Philharmonic Schools into interactive lessons for Young People’s Concerts Play!. The platform includes “Build Your Own Orchestra,” an interactive audio-visual experience created by Musicjelly and commissioned in partnership with London’s Barbican Centre that allows students to explore and deconstruct an orchestral piece with Philharmonic players.
Young People’s Concerts Play! continues the Philharmonic’s tradition of sharing YPCs as widely as possible. The Philharmonic presented its first of the current YPC series on January 26, 1924. The series was televised from 1958 to 1972, conducted and hosted by Philharmonic Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein. The Philharmonic has taken YPCs around the world, including to Tokyo in 2004 and 2009; Hong Kong in 2008; Shanghai in 2008, 2015, and 2016; Abu Dhabi in 2009; and London in 2012 and 2015, both as part of its International Associate residency at the Barbican Centre.
Education at the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic has been a leader in education since the 19th century, and its groundbreaking educational events continue today, collectively serving more than 40,000 people at live events, and millions more online, each year. Young People’s Concerts (ages 6–12) explore the repertoire with the full Orchestra. In Very Young People’s Concerts (ages 3–6), Philharmonic musicians introduce preschool children to classical music through games, active listening, and hands-on music-making. Young People’s Concerts for Schools (grades 3–12) are developed by Philharmonic Teaching Artists and partner school teachers to adapt Young People’s Concerts to classroom audiences, many of whom have been prepared through the in-school curriculum offered by Philharmonic Schools, the immersive classroom program spearheaded by the Philharmonic’s Teaching Artists. The Very Young Composers program (grades 4–12) enables students to compose their own music and hear it performed by Philharmonic musicians, often the full Orchestra; communities in the U.S. and abroad have established their own versions of Very Young Composers with assistance from the Philharmonic. Insights at the Atrium are free discussions for adults delving into the themes of the season. The New York Philharmonic Global Academy comprises customized collaborations with partners worldwide that offer intensive training of pre-professional musicians by New York Philharmonic members, often alongside regular performance residencies by the full Orchestra.
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Young People’s Concerts Play! is made possible by The Hearst Foundations, with additional support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
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This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Citi. Preferred Card of the New York Philharmonic.
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Emirates is the Official Airline of the New York Philharmonic.
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Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
