Old Hands at Young People’s Concerts

Lots of orchestras give concerts for children, but the Fremont Symphony does it with a twist: They get kids involved. “Last year, we had eight kids come up to the front and conduct the orchestra,” says Music Director David Sloss. “We played Stars and Stripes and each kid conducted about 30 seconds of it.” But that’s only the beginning.

The Fremont Symphony holds a unique contest every year, in which 4th- through 6th-graders write an original melody. Each school picks a winner, then violinist Mark Volkert, best known as a member of the San Francisco Symphony, arranges 8 to 10 of them for the orchestra to play. The composers stand and get recognized, and that’s the centerpiece of the concert. Some of this year’s winners have intriguing titles that make you want to save them to your iPod: “The Brainstorm” by Abhinav Tripathy of Parkmont Elementary, “Blooming of the Midnight Flower” by Victoria Houston of Fremont Christian School, “Black Cat” by Sacha Moufarrej of St. Joseph’s School, and the endearing “My First Song” by Michael Shahtout of Ardenwood Elementary.

And, of course, the winner of the under-16 division of the Symphony's Young Artist Competition, cellist Connor Kim, will take a solo turn in front of his compatriots, playing part of Tchaikovsky's Rococco Variations.

The Fremont Symphony has been doing these concerts for all but five years of its 40-year existence, which means that they even predate Sloss, whose three-decades tenure has made him a fixture in the city’s musical life. The orchestra relishes the children’s concert, for the tremendous energy of the 2,000-person audiences. “We usually end with a Sousa march [this year it’s the Washington Post March], and everybody gets excited and starts clapping along,” says Sloss.

“Kids are great,” he continues. “They don’t have any preconceptions, and they’re open to anything. I remember something we did — I don’t remember what — but it involved a passage of very dissonant, strident music for a dramatic purpose, and the kids just listened to it, no problem.”

The orchestra does a lot more outreach to children in the community but, as with every other organization, fiscal constraints introduced by reduced funding for the arts and the recent financial crisis have taken their toll. The orchestra is now in the middle of a fund-raising drive, for which it has received a generous matching grant. The goal is $45,000 by the end of the year, but with only a small core of local supporters it still has a long way to go, according to Sloss. If you want to help out, there’s a donation form on the orchestra’s Web site.

Meanwhile, the orchestra gamely plays on. If you don’t mind sitting with busloads of children, the concert is open to the public and sounds like a mountain of fun.