Cranston students ‘link up’ with RI Philharmonic

Don Fowler
Posted 4/24/15

Over 13,000 elementary students, including those from William R. Dutemple, Edgewood Highland, Edward S. Rhodes and the Pumpkin Patch Early Learning schools in Cranston, joined the Rhode Island …

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Cranston students ‘link up’ with RI Philharmonic

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Over 13,000 elementary students, including those from William R. Dutemple, Edgewood Highland, Edward S. Rhodes and the Pumpkin Patch Early Learning schools in Cranston, joined the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra last week for a series of eight concerts at the Vets.

The “Link Up” program capped a year of music education that provided the children with instruments and curriculum materials, culminating in the concerts, where the students played and sang along with the orchestra.

Thanks to a grant from the Victoria Alviti Music Foundation, the Cranston children were exposed to classical music in an exciting and fun-filled hour and a half, led by Resident Conductor Francisco Noya and Trinity Rep actor Joe Wilson Jr.

This is the fourth year for the program, which this year had a theme of The Orchestra Sings!

Not only did the orchestra sing with their instruments, but the packed house of children and teachers sang along with them with their recorders and voices.

Noya and Wilson, in addition to their impeccable talents as musicians and actors, could both pass as stand-up comedians, entertaining the students and making classical music fun for them.

The varied program included selections from Dvorak’s New World Symphony and the finale of Stravinsky’s Firebird Street, and lighter pieces like Brackett’s “Simple Gifts” and Copland’s popular round, “I Bought Me a Cat”.

Everyone was on their feet clapping and dancing to the rousing finale, Jim Papoulis’ “Ole.”

The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School is to be commended for reaching out to young people and showing them that the orchestra truly does sing.

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