SSO and Music Memory 2011 at South Highlands School Thurs. Feb 24 6:30 PM

The musicians of the SSO return to the stage for the Caddo/Bossier Music Memory 2011 competition which will be held Thursday night February 24, at 6:30 PM in the South Highlands Performing Arts Center, Erie at Line avenue in Shreveport. Guest vocalists will be soprano Amelia Davis and baritone Andre Chiang who are starring in the Shreveport Opera's production of "The Fantastiks".

SSO Music Director Michael Butterman conducts the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra for the 2008 M.M. competition at LSU-S

photo by Susan W. Rogers

So, you think that kids today don't know or care about fuddy duddy classical music? You know . . . .  Bach, Beethoven, Brahms - Mozart, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky? Symphonies, operas ballets? You might want to guess again. The students in my photo above from 2008 are participating in Music Memory, a program that allows them to shine like stars. Hearing only a few notes or a few seconds of music played by the orchestra, these students, paper and pencil in hand, are able not only to provide the name of the piece being played, but the composer as well. (Try it sometime - it's not as easy as it might sound). At the conclusion of these short excerpts, the SSO plays a concert for the audience as the correct answers are being tabulated by the judges. And, yes, I'll be there as well in the horn section in the back of the orchestra!

The local Caddo/Bossier competition has grown in participants over the last several years and so has the audience. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts, brothers and sisters pile into the hall to watch the orchestra and the children create magic together. Guest vocalists this year are soprano Amelia Davis and baritone Andre Chiang.

And the winners of the 2011 Music Memory are . . . . .