The update is that all 3 boys' art pieces were selected, for this year! There were over 600 submissions and 100 pieces were selected. Elijah's piece had even been in the running to be on the cover, but sadly, I had been mistaken- this program only goes up to 6th grade, not 8th! However, they enjoyed my 7th grader's work so much that they still wanted it in the presentation with the other winning pieces...we opted to have his name not be listed in the program, though (he is listed as "anonymous"). I will likely still have him create a piece in the years to come, but we now know that he (and Logan, next year) will be too old to submit a piece for this beautiful program. All of the submissions are put on display at the theatre, and the winning pieces are displayed together. Seeing the artwork all together creates a fun and colorful backdrop for photos with the proud artists.
The music piece for this year was Jennifer Higdon's "Blue Cathedral." There was an amazing orchestral lineup for today's program, including a lot of Tchaikovsky. Jennifer Higdon's piece was what the children's art accompanied. When the students create their art, they do so by picking a scene in the "storyline" of the music piece. After they've selected a scene, they draw their piece, after(or while) listening to the music piece, for inspiration. While the orchestra plays, live, at the performance, the students' art pieces that "fit the scene" being played, get displayed up on a screen above the musicians. It is a beautiful mix- the juxtaposition of brightly colored, children's artwork, paired with the sophisticated instrumental music, is so pleasing to the ear and the eye! For anyone in K-6th grade, in NH - try this lovely program out!
