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Stuff I’m Digging: TSO Young People’s Concert Pianorama

TSO Pianorama

I’m a big fan of the Toronto Symphany Orchestra’s Young People’s Concert series. This series is aimed for kids 5 to 12 and is a fun way to introduce children to music beyond Taylor Swift.

The upcoming Pianorama concert sounds like the perfect way to spend a wintery Saturday afternoon. ItĀ  features superstar pianist Emanuel Ax and young pianists from around Toronto. The 15 different piano players will trade off between movements, round robin style, Ā as they perform playful pieces, such as Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and The Carnival of the Animals.

There will also be specialĀ appearances, via video, from the Toronto Zoo andĀ activities put on by the Toronto Zoo in the lobby 30 minutes prior to each concert.

February 7 at 2pm and 4pm
Roy Thomson Hall 60 Simcoe Street
http://www.tso.ca/en-ca/concerts-and-tickets/2014-2015-Season/EventDetails/Pianorama.aspx
$20-$32
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Open Season for the Toronto Symphony’s Kids’ Concerts

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is kicking off this season’s Young People’s Concerts on Saturday.Ā  Each season boasts five one-hour-long concerts aimed at children aged 5 to 12. Colum and I attended their last concert in May and it was entirely memorable and worthwhile. We’ve been given media passes to attend this weekend as well and are bringing a couple cousins along for some age appropriate feedback.

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Shhh! Concerts For Kids by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanx/311213452/

Last Saturday Young C and I took our first solo trip (without L’il I). We took one bus and two subways all the way downtown to Roy Thompson Hall to go see a symphony concert. It was his first symphony and mine (I’m pretty sure). The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) schedules a handful of concerts aimed at children aged 5 through 12 each season as part of their Concerts for Young People Series. Even though Young C is only just 3, he is really way into music, and we were offered a complementary pair of seats at the last concert of this season, so I decided to check it out anyway. (This particular concert was also the only one performed by the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra in place of the TSO.)

I knew that the half hour before the concert would feature intimate pre-concert performances in the lobby, and planned to arrive in plenty of time. A truly amazing sequence of slips, spills, and falls just as we were getting ready to leave set us back, of course. (You can never allot too much time for travel with kids. Never.) We did see the last five minutes of an Africa-inspired drum performance that Young C absolutely loved. We then found our seats as I reminded him again that he really needed to be on his best behaviour. Sit still and listen to the music, this is the symphony.