Reader review: Charlotte Symphony Lollipops

On Saturday, Oct. 6, I went to the Lollipops concert in uptown Charlotte at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.

Before the concert began, we got to go to the musical petting zoo. The petting zoo is where kids of all ages can go play instruments like brass, percussion, woodwind and strings. They also have coloring and crafts available at the musical petting zoo. Most of the kids must have liked the snare drum because the line was very long.

The first part of the concert was funny because Maggie was doing funny tricks with the audience and the orchestra. Maggie is a mime who works at the Magic Circle Mime Co. One time the audience stood up, stretched their arms up and swayed side to side then sat back down. After that, the orchestra did the same thing while holding their instruments

Before the orchestra played the first song, Maggie thought the song was about soup. Alan Yamamoto, the conductor, told Maggie the song wasn’t about soup. It was really about galloping horses. Maggie thought the song was about soup because the composer was named Franz von Suppe. Maggie continued to be silly throughout the concert.

Maggie then tried to sit in an occupied seat, and finally she sat in an unoccupied seat. After that, the orchestra played the first song, which was the “Light Cavalry Overture.” After the orchestra played the “Light Cavalry Overture,” Maggie returned to the stage.

The second song/story was called “Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67.” The composer of the song/story was named Sergei Prokofiev. When the orchestra played “Peter and the Wolf,” the orchestra played themes about a boy named Peter and all sorts of animals. Alan told Maggie to go to an instrument in the orchestra that represents an animal such as a cat, duck, bird and wolf. The other characters were Peter, the grandfather and the hunters. Maggie’s theme was Peter, then Alan led the orchestra to show Maggie her theme.

After the orchestra played “Peter and the Wolf,” the concert was over with just two songs. The audience clapped for such a good performance. After that both the audience and the performers left the room. At the exit doors, a person was giving out lollipops for the children.

Drew Dansby is a first-grader at Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy.