Education & Outreach
The Symphony strives to create outreach opportunities and educational programming within the community and around the region, bringing musicians and visiting composers to schools and other venues. The current Five-Year 2022-27 Strategic Plan envisions a major increase in the range, size, and depth of the Children’s Concert program, expanding through meaningful partnerships with funders and collaborative organizations to bring music into the Warren and Washington County regions, and the Southeastern regions of the Adirondack Park. The Children’s Concerts came to life on November 17, 2023, at Warrensburg's beautiful new Jr/Sr High School Auditorium for nearly 1,500 students from Warrensburg, Queensbury, Lake George, Indian Lake, Boquet, Ticonderoga, and Corinth. This series of three performances marks an inspiring expansion of the Children's Concerts and includes school visits to regional elementary music programs.
For more information contact: info@gfso.org.
Scroll down to learn more about our children’s concerts.
Glens Falls Symphony Children’s Concert 2024
The Glens Falls Symphony 2024 Children’s Concerts are integral to our mission to inspire and educate young minds through music. This year’s concerts brought more than 1300 students and educators in Warren, Washington, and Essex counties, on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, and Wednesday 20, 2024. The symphony proudly presented Sergei Prokofiev’s classic work "Peter and The Wolf."
These concerts continue the tradition of exposing young students to the powerful impact of live orchestral music, nurturing their appreciation for the arts and sparking curiosity about the possibilities within the world of music.
A special thanks to Hudson Falls Central Schools, and Ticonderoga Central Schools for being gracious hosts, and wonderful partners in making these concerts possible this year.
We would also like to thank our guest narrator WNYT Anchor/Journalist Mark Mulholland, and composer, and founder of We Are Instrumental Evan Mack for their exceptional performances!
The concert is supported by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature: the Charles R. Wood Foundation, the Cloudspiltter Foundation, Stewart’s Shops, the Office of Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, and the Glen and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation.
Glens Falls Symphony Children’s Concert 2023
The Glens Falls Symphony Presented Lucinda y Las Flores de la Nochebuena to 1500 School Children in the Adirondack Park, Lucinda y Las Flores de la Nochebuena by Evan Mack and Josh McGuire, American composers, librettists, pianists and friends. The opera stars of Seagle Festival, in Schroon Lake, NY along with our fully professional symphony musicians will present this coming-of-age, Christmas opera based on the Mexican folktale of the poinsettia. Students from Queensbury, Lake George, Warrensburg, Ticonderoga, and more attended this school-day concert at the Warrensburg Middle School/ High School Auditorium on Friday, November 17 with three 48-minute performances.
Each character in Lucinda was represented in a brilliant fusion of the opera with a traditional children’s Mexican story regarding the birth of the poinsettia flowers! This beautiful opera educates children, touches their hearts, and illuminates the understanding, and true meaning behind the power of gift-giving.
The concert is supported by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The Charles R. Wood Foundation, and the JM MacDonald Foundation.
Glens Falls Symphony Children’s Concert 2019
School children from Hudson Falls, Fort Ann, Hartford, and Glens Falls enjoyed the sounds of the orchestra at Hudson Falls High School. Maestro Charles Peltz and the orchestra, along with narrator Evania Osepa from WMHT, brought the classic symphonic fairy tale Peter and the Wolf to life in an engaging and delightful performance.
The Children’s Concert was made possible with a grant from the Glens Falls Foundation and from the American Federation of Musicians’ Music Performance Trust Fund.
Series Host: Filmmaker Mark Spitzer, Moving Balance Productions
Bio: Glens Falls native Mark Spitzer has directed and produced several award-winning films. His work has been recognized by the Peoples’ Pixel Project and the Adirondack Film Festival . With Callou Productions, Mark has co-produced many travel documentaries as well as the documentary “Adirondacks and its People”. With a BFA in film production from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a MEd in Art Education from Norwich University, Mark began his career in NYC working as an editor in the film industry before deciding to enter education where he teaches video production at both the high school and college level.
SOUND+FILM SERIES
Join us before each concert in the 2024/25 season for a screening of a different film or documentary with inspiring musical stories and sounds.
This series is FREE and open to the public.
If you would like more information, you can contact the symphony office: at (518) 793-1348 or to reserve your spot contact Elizabeth Stone at Seniors on the Go at (518) 761-8224.
2024-25 Glens Falls Symphony Sound + Film Schedule:
9.25.24 - “Alive Inside” - This stirring documentary follows numerous visionaries trying to bring awareness to the healthcare system, by demonstrating music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it.
10.30.24- Classical Guitar Documentary: John Williams BBC
12.4.24 -” The Nutcracker” -The television adaptation of the Baryshnikov production.
3.5.24 - “ The Last Repair Shop”—This film follows a team of four people who repair and maintain instruments used by students in Los Angeles Unified School District music classes. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short tonight, and the filmmakers hailed it as a victory supporting music education.
4.23.24 - “ Gustav Mahler” - We look forward to exploring the compelling life and music of Gustav Mahler. For Mahler, and for us the audience, his creativity was "a voyage of self-discovery." Happy, sad, frightening, grotesque – Mahler's life events provided the essential raw material with which he created his unique universe.