The New York Philharmonic is bringing its famed Young People’s Concerts (YPCs) into the 21st century and around the world. Today we announced the launch of Young People’s Concerts Play!, a new online learning platform making YPCs available for on-demand streaming, enhanced by interactive lessons. Check out the first releases — YPCs focusing on Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream — for free at nyphil.org/ypcplay.
Coming up in the spring of 2017: a YPC focusing on Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World, recorded from YPCs for Schools performances taking place in January 2017. The program is part of The New World Initiative, the Philharmonic’s season-long, citywide project revolving around Dvořák’s New World Symphony and its theme of “home” on the occasion of the Philharmonic’s 175th anniversary season.
Young People’s Concerts Play! also features composition games designed by New York University’s MusEdWorks, Inc.; teaching videos about themes of the central musical works; and “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. Philharmonic Teaching Artists will visit schools in underserved neighborhoods to demonstrate the platform in-person.
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 in 1924, and the series was televised from 1958 to 1972, conducted and hosted by Philharmonic Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Check out The New York Times story here.
(Photo: Michael DiVito)
