During the month of April, the television series Sesame Street is focusing on Lincoln Center in New York City, with three separate “The People in Your Neighborhood” segments devoted to the symphony, ballet, and the opera. Each segment—featuring the character Murray Monster on location interviewing real people about their jobs—airs first on YouTube, and then two days later on a PBS television broadcast. In the first segment in the series, dancers from New York City Ballet performed an excerpt from Swan Lake and talked about the world of ballerinas. An episode featuring New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert was posted on YouTube on April 9, with the television broadcast to air on April 11. Gilbert demonstrates what an orchestra conductor does and conducts a chamber ensemble of Juilliard musicians in an excerpt from Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The final episode (on YouTube April 23, on TV April 25) will feature Isabel Leonard, a mezzo-soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, performing an excerpt from The Barber of Seville and explaining how opera singers tell stories through music.
Posted April 10, 2013
