Baltimore School for the Arts Dancers Join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, December 8

Musical Adventures Series Features Act II from The Nutcracker Ballet

Baltimore, Md. (November 6, 2007) - Forty dancers from the Baltimore School for the Arts will join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for Act II of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 8 at 11:00 a.m. Conductor Andrew Grams and narrator Rheda Becker will lead this action-packed performance. As part of the BSO's Tiny Tots Musical Adventures series, this program is suggested for families with children ages three and older. See below for complete program information.

Act II follows Clara through her vivid dreams on Christmas Eve. After falling asleep under the Christmas tree with her broken nutcracker doll, a prince greets Clara in her dreams and embarks with her on an adventure filled with life size mice, dolls, fairies and sweets.  Their journey to the Kingdom of Sweets includes the famous divertissements-Chocolat, Thé, Café, Trepak, Mirlitons-Waltz of the Flowers and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Attending a performance of The Nutcracker has been considered by many to be one of the most time-honored holiday traditions; The Nutcracker is also the most performed ballet in the Western hemisphere. Unlike other Nutcracker performances that rely on the choreography and music to convey the meaning, this performance features a narrator, Rheda Becker, to guide the children through the story. "The Nutcracker attracts a very wide audience, but children, in particular, love it," remarked Norma Pera, BSFA Dance Department Chair. "It's fun, it's exciting, there are great visual elements, the music is varied, short, quick and well suited to keep a child's attention."

Andrew Grams, conductor
Andrew Grams begins his one-year tenure as the Resident Conductor of the Florida Orchestra this season where he will conduct the entire Coffee Concerts series as well as education parks, and other community concerts.

Grams has just completed his three-year term as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra/American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Fellow having been appointed to that post by Franz Welser-Möst in June 2004. As Assistant Conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra, Grams assisted Welser-Möst, and conducted subscription concerts, tour concerts, educational concerts and summer events.

As guest conductor, Grams has made subscription concert appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and has also worked with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Forth Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Jacksonville (FL) Symphony, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. Internationally, he has conducted the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and has led a German Tour of the orchestral concert version of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony.

In 2002, Grams was appointed the assistant conductor of the Reading Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania and returned to conduct that orchestra again in 2005. He was selected to spend the summer of 2003 studying with David Zinman, Murry Sidlin and Michael Stern at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, and returned to that program again in 2004.

Rheda Becker, narrator
Rheda Becker is recognized as one of the outstanding professionals in the specialized art of the musical narrator. She made her debut in 1974 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and since then has appeared with them frequently as the speaker in works by Britten, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, Schuller, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. 

In addition to guest performances with symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Becker has performed with chamber ensembles at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall, Boston's Gardner Museum, the Library of Congress and the Folger Library in Washington, D.C.  Her repertoire includes a wide variety of works ranging from a 14th-century narrative to compositions by composers of the present day. She was the narrator in world premieres by the composers Ernst Krenek, Earl Kim, Robert Hall Lewis and Jonathan Holland.

Becker has been a frequent guest soloist at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Performances have included the role of Joan in Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, Walton's Façade, Hindemith's Herodiade, Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis, Krenek's They Knew What They Wanted and Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, "Kaddish." She has also served on the faculty of the Conservatory.

Becker is recorded on the BIS label with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, performing a narrated version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Act II.

Baltimore School for the Arts Dancers
The Baltimore School for the Arts Dancers engage in a rigorous and comprehensive program in both traditional ballet and modern technique. The course curriculum includes four years of ballet, modern dance and pointe. In addition to this core curriculum, the Baltimore School for the Arts is fortunate to have a wide variety of esteemed guest artists teach and choreograph its students, including Barry Houghson, Hinton Battle and David Parsons. Baltimore School for the Arts is one of the only performing arts high schools to have the honor of performing some of George Balanchine's works, including Serenade.
  

COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION
Musical Adventures Series: The Nutcracker Ballet
Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 11:00 a.m.- Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Andrew Grams, conductor 
Rheda Becker, narrator
Baltimore School for the Arts Dancers 

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Act II

Special anniversary pricing at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is made possible by generous underwriting from the PNC Foundation.

Tickets for these concerts range from $12 to $20 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office at 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org

Note: In addition to this public performance, the BSO and Baltimore School for the Arts dancers will perform Act II of The Nutcracker as part of the Mid-Week Education Concert series on December 5 and 6 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. For ticket information, please visit BSOkids.com.