By D’Lynn Waldron
Special to the Daily Press

The Santa Monica Symphony gave a concert for 1,000 children from elementary schools in Santa Monica, Venice and Pacific Palisades on April 25 in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Maestro Allen Robert Gross introduced the children to the music and to the soloists. Susan Greenberg showed the children the variety of instruments she plays from the tiny piccolo to a large bass flute, which few people have ever seen. Patricia Kindel demonstrated her huge contrabassoon by playing excerpts from well-known pieces of music.

The orchestra opened the concert with a rousing dance from Copland’s “Rodeo,” followed by the “Concerto for Piccolo and Contrabassoon” by young LA composer Damian Montano. The concert concluded with the “Hoe-Down” from “Rodeo,” which had the children bouncing to its rhythms.

The students came from the Santa Monica’s Franklin, McKinley, Roosevelt, St. Anne’s, Santa Monica Alternative, New Roads and Crossroads elementary schools, and from Venice’s Westminister and Pacific Palisades’ Calvary Christian.

Tom Whaley, arts coordinator for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, arranged the bussing of students to the auditorium.

The concerts are just one part of the Santa Monica Symphony’s educational outreach to the schools. The symphony holds open rehearsals at Grant School and the Santa Monica Symphony Woodwind Quintet presents on-site concerts in the area schools. This year the quintet played five school concerts featuring “The Carnival of the Animals” narrated by Nat Trives, president of the Symphony.

The Santa Monica Symphony will conclude its 61st season with a free concert on Sunday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Featured will be Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 1, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, and cellist David Garrett in Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1. Professor Raymond Knapp’s pre-concert talk will be in the meeting room at 6:30 p.m.

The Santa Monica Symphony is popular with concert-goers of all ages. Young people and parents with their children fill the balcony where they get to enjoy meeting other music lovers before the concert begins.

Admission is free to all Santa Monica Symphony concerts, a 61-year tradition made possible by sponsors and donors and the city of Santa Monica.

For more information about the symphony, call (310) 395-6330 or visit www.symphony.org.