Concert introduces children to new music

The Contemporary Music Consortium continues its series of concerts with a matinee performance today directed toward young people.

According to series co-director and flutist Laurel Ann Maurer, this will be the first time that CMC has played a concert specifically aimed at children. "Certainly in the years that I've been involved with CMC, we haven't done a children's concert," she said.

However, for years Maurer has seen the need of reaching out to area youth and introducing them to new music. "I realized that CMC should make some effort in educating young people about contemporary music," she said. Last year, CMC applied for a grant from Salt Lake County's Zoo, Arts and Parks program, and was awarded money for that purpose. Local composer and guitarist Stan Funicelli heads CMC's education section.

Maurer said the education program has two goals. "Our purpose is two-fold. First, we want our people on CMC to coach college-age ensembles and train them in the skills required for performing contemporary music. Second, we want to take these groups into schools to perform for the children, so that they're exposed to contemporary music."

She said she hopes today's concert will whet the appetite of the youngsters who attend. "I'm really excited to do the concert. It meets the criteria CMC has established for our concerts, since all of the pieces are from the 20th century, and all are high quality.

"We don't believe in dumbing down what we do for children. And this concert will certainly appeal to both young people and adults."

On the program are two perennial favorites, Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite." "There is nobody who doesn't like 'Peter and the Wolf,' " Maurer said. "It's a mainstay in entertainment for all of us. It's a marvelous piece and great, great fun." Gene Pack will narrate, and the version that will be played on the concert today is an arrangement for woodwind quintet and percussion.

The "Mother Goose Suite" will also be played in a version for woodwind quintet.

Also on the program is Utah composer Phillip Bimstein's "Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa" for flute, clarinet, frogs, crickets and coyotes. "Phillip has very cleverly written a fanciful piece for which he has created a soundtrack that uses sounds of nature," Maurer said. "You hear crickets, frogs, coyotes, rustling water and the earth moving. The flute and clarinet play along with the soundtrack. It's really a fun and interesting piece."