The 2002 Peter Britt
Music Festival classical series in Jacksonville, Oregon, will feature
the music of Rossini, Paganini, Mozart, and Verdi. Pianist Andre
Watts will perform Rachmaninoff. Soprano Kendra Colton will sing
Mahler. Oregon Symphony music director James DePriest will conduct
Tchaikovsky.
And little kids will
play fiddles that have been painted to look like peacocks, butterflies,
and leopards.
While the festival celebrates
its 40th season from August 2 through 18, a sideshow event of great
appeal to families and children will return as well—the "petting
zoo." This preconcert event on family night encourages children
to get their hands on the instruments of the orchestra under the
guidance and assistance of symphony members and local music store
owners, who help supply them.
Last year, the zoo aspect
became nearly a literal reality. Cripple Creek Music in nearby Ashland,
one of the suppliers of the instruments (the other is Court Music
in Medford, Oregon), brought a new menagerie of fiddles to the festival.
Cripple Creek proprietor Garin Bakel figured that a fresh line of
violins decorated in designs inspired by the animal kingdom would
be a natural for this event. At once whimsical and beautiful, their
appeal to children, Bakel assumed, would be immediate and compelling.
Indeed it was, according to festival administrator Angela Warren.
"Being able to hold something that looks like a tiger or a
zebra seemed to be very appealing," she says of last year's
experience. "There were smiles all around."
But while the children
undeniably have fun with their "pets," the underlying
purpose is—sorry, kids—educational. Warren helped conceive
the hands-on idea in 1994, believing that it would "get kids
more actively engaged in our classical concerts." Apparently,
it's had the desired effect. "Having felt, heard, and played
the instruments, children crane their necks to watch the professionals
make music when the concert begins," he says. "You can
always hear kids in the audience pointing out 'their' musician to
their parents.
"As a vehicle for
deepening the concert experience, this activity is invaluable."
The fanciful violins,
which come in full and fractional sizes, are built in the workshops
of Vasile Gliga in Reghin, Romania, and hand painted by Romanian
artists. They are imported as the Euro Zoo series by J.R. Music
Supply of Boston. Company spokesman Eric Roy claims that the sound
quality of these instruments is "tonally indistinguishable
from the varnished Euro line. The special type of paint that is
used does not impede the tone of the instrument."
Britt Festival violinist
Kenny Barnd agrees. He's a member of the Nashville Symphony and
has held the principal or assistant principal second violin chair
with the Britt Festival orchestra for 19 years, but last year was
his first to help out at the petting zoo. Much to his surprise,
when he saw the zebra, "it leapt out" at him. "Zebra
is a brand new instrument and is still breaking in," he says.
"It's very clean, and the harmonics really pop out. I was surprised
by the sound."
Angela Warren stresses
that the petting zoo isn't just for kids. Of the nearly 1,400 people
who attended last summer's outdoor Family Event to take in Tchaikovsky
Discovers America, many were parents who showed up at the petting
zoo with their children. They, also, were clearly enchanted. "It's
wonderful to see so many adults interested in trying the instruments.
It's great for the children to see grown-ups side by side with them
in line for this experience."
This year's Family Event
on August 10 is themed the Elastic Band, featuring London Philharmonia
percussionist Kevin Hathaway and a collaboration with the Rogue
Valley Children's Chorus. And the animal fiddles will be back in
Britt's outdoor gardens for the preshow petting zoo. Kids will get
their faces painted. Some of them will wear crowns or garlands in
their hair. Many will frolic barefoot on the grassy hillside. And
some, attracted by the whimsy of, say, the spider-web fiddle, will
put bow to string for the first time and find themselves ensnared
for life.
The Britt Festivals
can be reached at PO Box 1124, Medford, OR 97501; (800) 882-7488
or (541) 779-0847. Or visit www.brittfest.org.
