School & District News

For over 75 years, the talented members of the North Carolina Symphony have traveled to Lenoir County for a special event. Fifth grade students from Lenoir County Public Schools as well as fourth and fifth grade students from Greene County Schools filled the auditorium at Kinston High School to hear the symphony perform.

“These performances are an opportunity to both expose children to classical music and have their first introduction to the orchestra, but more importantly, it’s getting out into these communities that may not otherwise have access to these concerts,” said Jason Spencer, the director of education for the NC Symphony.

Students learned about the different sections of instruments and how they sound, such as strings, woodwinds and the brass section. They also got to hear how the sections sounded all together to perform beautiful music. Some of the students’ favorites were Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty Suite and the Overture to William Tell.

“the arts play a critical role in supporting students at an early age,” Spencer said. “They not only learn about music and the repertoire in advance, but then they come here, they experience the concert, and then they go back into their classroom and talk about what they heard.”

Rebecca McGann, the Public Information Officer for LCPS, agreed with Spencer’s sentiments.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn about music in a classroom setting, and then see it put into practice by performers who are experts in it,” she said. “I’d like to thank the North Carolina Symphony for this decades-long partnership with our school district, and I look forward to seeing it continue for at least another 75 years in the future.”