Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Concert - May 10, 2011

One of the greatest symphonies ever composed. The Maestro was taken to Carnegie Hall to a live performance at the age of 10: Arturo Toscanini, one of the conducting giants of the 19th and 20th centuries, conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra. You can see part of the performance on YouTube (click). Incredible to think that during those years, 1948-1952 NBC was presenting great concerts on TV regularly. He in turn took his sons when they were about the same age to a legendary performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with Sir Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony with four magnificent soloists, including a young, unknown tenor named Luciano Pavarotti! The maestro hopes that some kids who like classical music will come to his performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in Mashpee, MA and remember it as well.

Not Just Classical Music CDs for Kids

Our music director, Maestro Stephen Simon, does not just do classical music for kids. He also conducts music for adult concerts. He just finished conducting a concert with L'Orchestre des Portes Rouges in New York City with organist David Enlow (Juilliard faculty). The concert was a great success - the musicians and the audience loved it. We, of course, handed out a few My Name is Handel: The Story of Handel's Water Music CDs that are hot off the press. There were some kids in the audience - his two granddaughters who came from Boston to see their grandfather conduct live for the first time.

L'Orchestre des Portes Rouges concert in NYC with Stephen Simon, conductor

Our Maestro Classics music director, Stephen Simon, conducted L'Orchestre des Portes Rouges on Friday, April 15, 2011 at Church of the Resurrection, 119 East 74th Street, NYC. David Enlow, organ faculty at Juilliard, was the soloist in a program of Mozart Church Sonatas and the Poulenc Organ Concerto, as well as a Mozart symphony. The acoustics in this beautiful Renwick-style church are glorious, and the newly installed organ with pipes nestled in all corners of the building was stunning. None of the musicians had ever performed in the space before and their delight promises to make it one of New York's special concert venues in the future.

On a personal note, it was wonderful to see so many old New York friends as well as friends and relatives from out-of-town welcoming us back to the musical scene in Manhattan.

Photos will follow

The Third Year at the Midwest Homeschool Conference

Time to get back on the blog. I am embarrassed to see that I have not been on for 12 months, since just before our second venture into the homeschool world of the Midwest. Why? A beautiful new website www.maestroclassics.com has taken a year to build and a new CD has been born. But, on to today.

Quickly, the Midwest Homeschool Conference. I gave two talks and abandoned the Powerpoint presentation, explaining that Maestro Classics is all about listening. At the booth and after talks, it was great to meet all the folks who listen and love our CDs. Twice as many families purchased CDs in 2010 as in 2009, and this year in 2011 it seemed that the word is really out, and the number tripled. Maestro Classics has been discovered by the Midwest homeschool community!

Many parents approached our Maestro Classics booth saying,

"My friend told me that I absolutely have to come and listen to your CDs."

"I just want to tell everyone here that these are wonderful CDs. We purchased the entire set two years ago and my son has already worn out 2 of the CDs!"

Another memorable comment came from the family who said that their car was broken into and all their Maestro Classics CDs were stolen;they wanted to replace them all.

Classical music and kids. There are still some families who are skeptical. Do they know enough to introduce it to their children? Isn't it that deadly stuff you put on when you want your child to go to sleep, or perhaps help them concentrate on their homework, not too interesting so you don't really need to listen? Just come and listen to Maestro Classics CDs, I always say. The conductor explains the music. You can not only hear the London Philharmonic Orchestra, you may also head the Russian Trio Voronezh playing folk instruments, the Maestro Classics Dixieland Band, a jazz trio, or even Joe Stump, the head of the heavy metal department at Berklee College of music. Are these CDs classical music for kids? some people ask. I prefer to say "Good music for kids....and their parents." Plus, on every CD, the conductor talks about the music, you learn a little history of the composer and the times from me, and there is always the "Play/Sing/Dance-Along" track at the end, preceded by my famous, "Stand up and smile!"

Since I wrote a year ago, we have a new CD: My Name is Handel: The Story of Water Music. It is the most beautiful to date. More on that later.

At the moment, I need to get to Church of the Resurrection on East 74th St. in NYC where our music director and my husband, conductor Stephen Simon, is having a rehearsal for the April 15th concert for organ and orchestra and I want to go and listen to the fabulous organist, David Enlow.

News from Cincinnati

As we decided to return to the Midwest Homeschool Conference in Cincinnati this year, I looked at my colleague Annie Dean and said, "Either we sold CDs to everyone who was interested in classical music last year and we will not sell another CD or everyone who purchased CDs last year will have told their friends and it will be wonderful. GREAT NEWS! It was the latter and we were flooded with families saying, "I bought one CD last year and am coming back to buy ALL the others," and "I heard about you from a friend who said I had to stop by the booth and listen."

For two and a half days, we had 3 and 4 headsets going with people waiting in line to listen to the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Yadu the narrator. Twice as many CDs went out the door as the year before, setting a new homeschool record for us.

I love going to the shows and meeting the actual people who will enjoy our CDs hour after hour. The smiles that come across faces as they put on the noise-canceling headsets and are transported to a different world are marvelous - peace and joy are the only way that I can describe them.

One new aspect to the booth were the new wireless headsets by Sennheiser. Wonderful sound and no wires! Many asked if we were selling them... no, but certainly recommending them.

BTW - The Tortoise and the Hare won a Parents' Choice GOLD, the most coveted award in the children's toy/media business. While all of our CDs have won Parents' Choice awards, this is our second GOLD. (4 SILVER as well.)

Museum Store Association Conference

On the road again! My first trip to Austin, TX in 30 years; have not been here since husband/conductor Stephen Simon conducted the Austin Symphony years ago.

As always, fun to watch people's faces as they put on the wireless Sennheiser headphones and they are transported to a different world. Many big smiles!

While selling to retailers sends many more CDs out the door, I miss the homeschool parents who come and listen and talk and then gently take their new CDs and you know that they are going to entertain the whole family on the drive home.

Back to NYC tomorrow, to DC at the end of the week, and then off to Japan for 3 weeks.

Return to Midwest Homeschool Convention

IF YOU ARE IN CINCINNATI, COME SEE ME AT OUR BOOTH 1222 and/or
COME TO ONE OF MY TALKS ON FRIDAY AT 2 pm OR SATURDAY AT 3 pm.

I left the 80+ degree heat of New York City yesterday to arrive in the cool weather of Cincinnati. Last year we came to the Midwest Homeschool Convention and were so captivated by the wonderful families that we met that we knew we would return again this year. The show opened last evening and I was delighted to meet so many parents and children who were interested in new listening experiences. From the 5-year-old boy who would have spent the entire evening with the headset on to the 14-year-old who knew Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake but had to admit that he had never heard a version played on electric guitar (a 4-minute version on track 3 of the same CD that has the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing the original score), once again we found that the parents here are in sync with our belief that the greatest education happens when parents and children can experience things together.

I have been busy with new technology at the booth, working with Sennheiser's new Bluetooth wireless headphones. People visiting the booth love them. Come try them out. (You may put them on your Christmas list for next year.)

Today, Friday at 2 PM at Millennium Pavilion, in my talk titled "A Musical Adventure: Creating Maestro Classics" I will talk about the creation of the Maestro Classics series - from the Kennedy Center to London's Abbey Road Studios to Carnegie Hall to orchestras nationally. Tomorrow, Saturday at 3 PM, I will be on my soapbox at the Millennium Pavilion talking about the importance of listening in an increasingly visual world - "You, Music, and Your Child: Ten Ways to Introduce Music into Your Children's Lives."

As the sun rises this AM, I trust that today will bring a host of new experiences that will continue to make this my favorite show.