MUSIC

The Houston Symphony presents Carnival of the Animals. Two shows Saturday, May 1, at 10:00 am and 11:30am. 

Sounds from the animal kingdom will fill Jones Hall when the Houston Symphony and Associate Conductor Robert Franz perform the final Weatherford Family Concert of the season, Saint-Saën’s Carnival of the Animals on May 1, 2010. This well-known music features fourteen different movements, each portraying the characteristics of a different animal and impressive piano duets that Houston Symphony Pianist Scott Holshouser and his student, Esther Liao, will perform.

The Houston Symphony celebrates the underdog of the animal kingdom: the Chicken! From Mussorgsky’s Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks to the Funky Chicken Dance, children will learn new respect for our fine feathered friend. Other creatures join the party in Saint-Saëns classic Carnival of the Animals.

Conductor: Robert Franz.

Weatherford Family Concerts are a fun-filled, interactive and educational concert series created for children and their families. Their concert experience will be enhanced through video projection screens that provide additional story support and enable them to see the orchestra in action. Come early or stay late to participate in exciting activities including an instrument petting zoo, arts and crafts and youth ensemble performances. For more ticket information, the Houston Symphony Customer Service Center in Jones Hall is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., by phone at (713) 224-7575 or on-line at www.houstonsymphony.org.  

About Robert Franz  - As Music Director of the Boise Philharmonic, Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony, and Music Director of the Mansfield Symphony, Robert Franz is emerging as one of the most talented conductors of his generation. He has designed and implemented arts education programs for a number of ensembles and is a champion of new music. During his last post as Associate Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra, he re-vitalized an ASCAP award-winning new music concert series and served as co-host of In a Different Key, a weekly contemporary classical music radio program. He also helped Louisville win the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Award for Education Programming in 2001 and created a program for Kentucky Educational Television, Creating Music and Stories. Franz also participated in Children's Center and Enrichment Center chamber music residencies designed to provide arts enrichment experiences for people with disabilities.