March 30, 2004 > Fremont Symphony Hosts Annual Free Children's Concerts

The Fremont Symphony recently presented free concerts for Tri-City and Milpitas schoolchildren. The first two concerts, for over two thousand students, parents, and teachers in the Fremont, Newark, and New Haven school districts was held on March 19th at Ohlone College's Epler Gymnasium and Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) students were a guest audience on Thursday, March 25 at Milpitas High School Gymnasium.

The concerts, featured the 50-piece orchestra under the baton of Maestro David Sloss, gave students a chance to see and hear live classical music performed by professional musicians. "Many students begin studying their favorite instrument as a result of their visit to see the orchestra," says the Fremont Symphony's executive director Anastasia Arnold.

An exciting feature of the concerts was the presentation of the works of Young Composer Winners for 2004. All of the young composers were thrilled by the prospect of hearing their works played by a full orchestra. Monica Tay, a sixth grader in Mrs. Perry's class at Chadbourne Elementary School admitted that she was "a little nervous" about hearing her composition "Eye of the Hurricane." Raghav Khanijow, in the 5th grade at Brookvale in Mr. Creed's class echoed the thought as he waited to hear his composition, "Saharan Dream." Nicole Pamala of Ardenwood composed "Rain Song" and was excited to hear it from a full orchestra in front of her classmates and teacher, Mr. Tietze. First time winner Jake Lamont of Millard School appeared to take it all in stride waiting to hear his "Serpent Symphony" played to his classmates and teacher, Ms. Bryant.

All winning composers are also musicians. For instance, Melody Ann Lin plays the piano and flute. She is in the 5th grade class of Mr. Nance at Warwick Elementary School and composed "Playtime." Adam Homann, a piano player and 4th grade student of Mrs. Rawlins class at Prince of Peace School said he started composing when he was in kindergarten. His work being played was "A Journey Through Time." A sixth grader in Mrs. Zeppa's class, Kendall Witharn of St. Joseph's School plays the piano and violin. His composition was "Highland Ode to Fathers." Pianist Alexander Lin, a fourth grade student in Mrs. Qualls class at Weibel School, rounded out the list of winners with his composition, "The Full Moon on Halloween."

All winners received a letter of commendation, a printed score of their work and a video of the concert.

The free concerts have been produced in Fremont for 29 years and in Milpitas for the past four years and are sponsored by Adaptec Foundation, Fremont Cultural Arts Council, the City of Milpitas' Cultural Arts Support Program, local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, and the Music Performance Fund. Additional support for the program was received from Dale Hardware, Target Stores, Optimist Clubs, People Soft, Fremont Symphony Guild and Cargill Salt.