New York Philharmonic Young Peoples’ Concerts

In 2009 I attended a New York Philharmonic Young Peoples’ Concert, conducted by my friend and colleague Delta David Gier, and was exceedingly impressed by the quality of the concert — it’s concept, execution, script, dancing, repertoire choices, etc., but mostly by how incredibly good it was.

I asked David Gier and Tom Dulack, the writer and director, to tell me about the process of creating this concert series. To quote from my introduction to the article that resulted from that conversation, Designing a Young People’s Concert Series:

Four actors, representing New York, Paris, Vienna, and St. Petersburg from four different historical periods, appeared throughout the hall and were obviously in the midst of an ongoing contentious debate about which city’s music was most important. David, as conductor, was completely a part of the actors’ script, the Philharmonic played several substantial Russian masterpieces, including the Finale of Pictures at an Exhibition, and the concert ended with all four actors dancing to Mozart’s 40th in four very different dance styles – an electrifying sight!

Tom Dulack and his artistic partner, choreographer and dancer Heather Lipson Bell, have received permission from the NY Philharmonic to take their Young Peoples’ concerts “on the road.” You can read about their concert offerings at TeatroFilharmonic.com.