About
Mahler 1 and Guida’s World Premier
Spend a morning with us at FirstOntario Concert Hall and watch the HPO in rehearsal. This is a fantastic opportunity to give your students a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of professional orchestral life.
Enter through our stage door, and get a glimpse of backstage before joining us in a conference room to learn about what you are about to hear. Composer-in-Residence, Abigail Richardson-Schulte introduces students to the composers and pieces planned for the day’s rehearsal.
After learning about the pieces, schools are escorted to the first balcony where they have the opportunity to watch a rehearsal in progress from the best vantage point in the house. We have a microphone set up so that students hear the feedback the conductor is giving to the orchestra, and get an opportunity to see first-hand how that feedback then sounds in the orchestra.
Our rehearsal experiences are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We can accommodate 2 schools at a maximum of 50 students per school.
Educational Connections with this program:
Using a massive orchestra, Mahler’s 1st Symphony offers an epic experience for students. The orchestration includes 7 French Horns, 4 trumpets and 3 trombones as well as harp, bass clarinet, English horn and contrabassoon, which gives teachers an opportunity to address many of the outlying orchestral instruments. With instructions to the musicians that include standing, off-stage horn calls and putting bells in the air for the woodwinds, there is a lot to take in with Mahler 1.
The schedule for this rehearsal includes a work by our Composer Fellow, Massimo Guida. Having a living composer on the program offers teachers curricular connections that include careers in music and the different pathways that exist for musicians. In addition, the listening skills your students can gain by being exposed to new compositions cannot be underestimated. Often times contemporary compositions include timbral experiments and modern compositional techniques that bring a whole new level of things to listen for to young musicians.
Please note: Our bookings are based on the planned rehearsal schedule. Students may not see all repertoire being rehearsed, and the repertoire is subject to change without notice.