“A few hundred students filed into the Franklin Elementary School gymnasium,” writes Scott Girard in Thursday’s (11/21) Capital Times (Madison, WI). “The room quieted, with only the sound of four musicians playing Mozart’s ‘Hunt’ String Quartet, a piece with the same name as the group itself. The quartet, a partnership between the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was making its second visit to the school this year as part of the ‘Up Close and Musical’ program led by MSO. The 21-year-old program has a quartet visit up to six elementary schools in the area four times each year…. At the end of the year, students from all of the schools attend an MSO concert with the full symphony…. The students listened to the four members of the quartet—Rachel Reese, Alex Chambers-Ozasky, Ava Shadmani and Fabio Sággin—explain ascending and descending melodies…. Students at times pretended to conduct the group from their seats, and excitedly yelled out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ when they recognized the piece. Said Franklin music teacher Megan Moran, “They’re not only making these musical connections, but making the connections with these musicians.”
Posted November 22, 2019
In photo: Students at Franklin Elementary School listen to the Hunt Quartet, a partnership of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Mead Witter School of Music at UW-Madison, on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Photo by Scott Girard
