On the Waves of Sound | Review

What do you get when you combine the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a slapstick actor with way too many magic wands, Hubbard Street 2 dancers and an audience filled with kids? A concert that is so much more than a concert.

Usually, one wouldn't mentally pair the CSO with a crowd of kids. But lately, and most fortunately for all of us, it seems that Symphony Center is all about it. Their new Once Upon a Symphony series for preschoolers is putting on The Ugly Duckling Saturday May 14, only to be followed by the finale concert of their Youth in Music Fest Sunday May 15 featuring Yo-Yo Ma—the driving force behind their new and improved kids programming. As if that isn't enough, this past weekend they put on an interactive show for elementary school kids, a concert titled On the Waves of Sound.

In keeping with the CSO's family matinee series, it was all about audience involvement. The made the sophisticated music—which included Handel's Water Music, Debussy's La Mer, Smetana's The Moldau and Strauss's The Blue Danube...can you sense a theme here?—approachable, relevant and enjoyable to the kids through an adjoining story about a kooky magician, who gets a little graceful help from Hubbard Street 2's performers choreographed by Edgar Zendejas.

The kids in the audience I saw were all over it. They put their jackets over their heads when it was "raining" in one piece, mimicked the Hubbard Street troupe's movements, which ranged from the leaps of birds caught in a storm to the jerky stinging of hail, and helped the orchestra make thunder and lightning sound effects.

I think they'd whole-heartedly agree with me when I say I not only love this family-friendly direction the CSO is taking, but hope and anticipate to see many more encores of anything that makes classical music something kids can grow to love, appreciate and enjoy. Bravo.