Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season September-October 2017 | Page 7

BSO ORCHKIDS FOCUSES ON
SUMMER OF MUSIC, LEARNING
AND SERVICE
T
he BSO OrchKids had a busy summer! OrchKids kicked
off the season with its first-ever “Day of Giving” on
June 6 to great success. Through donations, pledges and
an online crowdfunding campaign, OrchKids raised over $30,000
towards supporting its summer camp, which reaches more than
200 Baltimore-area students.
To keep kids engaged and learning through the summer months,
OrchKids held a four-week, full-day program from June 26 through
July 21 at The SEED School of Maryland. In addition to offering
a breadth of musical instruction, the summer camp also provided
fun physical activities and academic tutoring in an effort to curb
summer learning loss. The program culminated in a concert at
the Meyerhoff during Baltimore’s annual Artscape festival.
Money raised during the Day of Giving also helped to send
students to programs like Interlochen Summer Music Camp in
Michigan and the Take a Stand Festival in California. This year,
OrchKids partnered with Southwest Airlines, which donated
40 round-trip vouchers for students to travel to their respective
summer music camps.
And on July 15, OrchKids held its environmentally-minded
Green Festival, now in its third year. A community clean-up
project that was designed to promote dialogue surrounding
environmental, musical and cultural issues, the Green Festival
provides an uplifting cultural experience by addressing the
pervasive problem of litter in West Baltimore.
View from above the stage at Strathmore
OrchKids students, staff and volunteers bring music and clean streets
to West Baltimore during the annual Green Festival
BEHIND THE SCENES
Backstage at the Music Center at Strathmore
L
ast season, the BSO launched a new
program for donors— a backstage
tour that shows patrons the technical
elements that make the Music Center at
Strathmore such a unique space.
Much of Strathmore’s original design was
created with the BSO in mind. Kirkegaard
Associates created an acoustically excel-
lent concert hall with a variety of adjustable
features, including 43 independently con-
trolled reflectors over the stage. There are also
movable sound-absorbing materials concealed
behind 700 perforated metal-mesh panels all
around the audience chamber.
The behind-the-scenes tour also ventures
deep under the stage. The entire backstage
area where the percussion section performs
is a powerful elevator. Underneath, huge
choral wagons are stored and moved up to
the stage level.
This incredible attention to detail has resulted
in a space that produces a sound that is perfect
for an orchestra like the BSO. The tour will be
repeated three times in the 2017–2018 season.
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